Crouching fox, Hidden wolf
by Renata Okami
Summary: I think we are all clear on one thing. Naruto's an idiot. However he's going to have to over come that in order to understand how he managed to save someones life. Someone who hardly anybody knew about, who was supposed to be dead.
1. Chapter 1Deep in shit has two meanings

**Hello!**

**I do not own Naruto, of course because if i did i would not be writing this story.**

**I'm doing this for enjoyment and to get all the ideas out of my head so i have space to revise for my exams**

**by the way, in chapter 3 is when they become genin, later on in much, much further chapters will take place a few days after Naruto defeated pain and by then Danzo will have been selected hokage, so yeah, it's only going to be in the next chapter that they will still be young, so don't worry you won't get as bored as you probably did on this one, just stick with it for a while and remember it takes hours to write and seconds to review. ( i did not steal that quote from someone else and thought "good idea! I'll write that too to guilt-trip people into reviewing muwahahaha ) ;)**

* * *

**Chapter 1 :** The phrase "Your in deep shit" has many meanings

* * *

Naruto giggled to himself. Being only six years old he could easily slip under the radar of Konoha nin, and also able to fit through small windows, such as that as the window lodged in the wall of the third Hokage's bedroom.

Luckily for the boy, Hiruzen Sarutobi was stifling through the dreaded paper-work on his desk, silently begging for a disaster to strike, forcing him to abandon his burden and face a dangerous foe instead.

"Hmm.." he said out loud to no one in particular. "Maybe Naruto will pay me a visit or pull ridiculous prank, yes! That always happens, then I can put this off until tomorrow, so all have to do is wait for the brat to turn up." the third hokage triumphantly put his papers aside and sat patiently waiting for the little 'nuisance'

Unfortunately for the old man, Naruto was pulling his stunts elsewhere. The young boy climbed through the window that just so happened to be pushed open slightly(well enough for a six years arm to slide through and undo the latch. And he rolled ungraciously to the floor humming to himself the 'mission impossible' theme tune "Dum-dum. Dum-dum-dum-dum. Dum-dum-dum-dum. Da-da-DA. Da-da-DA."

Naruto brought the palm of his hand up to his face. "step 1, infiltration. Check" he whispered as he ticked off the first line of the list he had drawn on his hand with a marker pen. Well done Naruto, that's going to come off easily. *face palms*

"Step 2, find an awesome jutsu that will make me the best ninja in the land of fire, (I might possibly be made hokage, hehe)" Naruto crawled under the third's bed. "no nothing under he-hey was this?!" The boys hand had brushed against a small book, well-worn with cracks at the spine.

"Maybe this has awesome jutsu in it!" Naruto exclaimed as he flung himself on the book and opened it up to the middle page. He began to read aloud:

"'I love you.' she whispered to me and then we brought our lips together. We stayed like that for a long time until she started running her hands down my legs, and finally began to caress my-AAAAHHHH!" The book was thrown across the room and Naruto scuttled to the other side, brought his knees up to his stomach, wrapped his arms around his legs and started rocking himself, all the while with a scared shocked expression on his face

"I'm sorry old man! After this I'm never coming in here again, I promise, I'll try to be a good boy from now on, just NEVER EVER let me read a book again!" he whimpered, and carried on muttering it to himself. And hour passed before the six-year old finally stirred again. His belly grumbled and it was the thought of ramen that stopped him slipping into the abyss of insanity.

Clutching his belly, Naruto stood up and began surveying the massive bookcase next to him that contained hundreds of scrolls. Overwhelmed by the amount he had to go through, Naruto devised a 'cunning' plan on how to go about finding this jutsu:

"Enie, meanie, minie, mo, catch a nindog by its tail, when it squeals, let it go enie, meanie, minie, MO!" he yelled the last word before his finger landed on a yellow scroll.

"Wow! I'm so smart, this one looks so cool! Just like me!"

And because Naruto is such a genius, he didn't even bother to read the name of said jutsu. laying down on his stomach on the floor with his legs crossed and in the air, he carefully unwrapped the scroll and begun the difficult task of reading.

"Okay so I...uhuh...uhuh..wha!-oh i get it...yes...right, but wait...oooooh" Naruto's face lit up with awe, that's is until reading the bottom note:

**Only Minato Namikaze (Fourth Hokage) has been able to use this technique successfully**

Unfortunately for Naruto he didn't read the smaller note below.

"Right I can do this." Naruto breathed heavily. "If the fourth hokage managed to and if I pull it off, then I should be able to is well if I'm gonna be hokage someday, ya know!" he shouted to no one in particular. He looked for something in the Hokage's office that he would be able to place on a leaf ninja. The six-year old desperately wanted to see outside of konoha's gates and it _seemed_ like a good idea.

He pulled open a drawer of the bedside cabinet and found inside a kunai. "whoa!" Naruto's eyes reflected the gleam of the metal. He felt mesmerized with it.

"This is perfect!"

He grabbed the kunai and attempted to perform the seal, and after many times a seal appeared, assuming that it was a successful seal Naruto squealed with glee, then quickly glanced around to make sure no one heard act like a such a girl. unbeknownst to Naruto that while he was performing the seal, his eyes had turned red and pupils taking on a slitted form.

* * *

Meanwhile a group of leaf ninja were busy at the entrance gates counting their weapons while waiting for their other team member to catch up. One of them sighed in exasperation.

"Where fuck is that damn shinobi!" Growled an annoyed jonin. Asuma Sarutobi lit the cigarette he had just placed in his mouth.

"Most definitely caught up on the youthful path to becoming a better ninja!" Remarked Might Guy. Asuma face palmed. He could not get a break. Being put on a mission with Guy is like being stuck with a 6 year old girl who cries when she's happy after just having a small emotional talk and hugs people randomly, also the whole youthfulness thing is just getting on his nerves.

"Hey guys, sorry I got stopped along the way by a small blonde child who requested my help" Kakashi stated mildly. Asuma smirked.

"Liar"

"Actually this time it's true."

"This time...eh? So you admit it then, that you were late all the other times 'coz you were reading Icha Icha, I presume?"

"Well-i...err...You see the thing is..." Kakashi scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"That's what I thought, now let's get a move on." Asuma turned on one heel and immediately took off in the direction of the forest. Kakashi right behind him with Guy at the rear "Yosh we will complete this task three times faster than the mission we did yesterday, no wait-four times faster-wait five…!"

Both Kakashi and Asuma sweat-dropped.

* * *

Naruto grinned. He managed to trick a jonin into helping him tie his shoelaces, and in return for the favour Naruto gave him the kunai that he had 'come across in a ditch somewhere'. The jonin had thanked him, pocketed it and left. Now the fun begins.

After a few hours of concentrating his chakra Naruto did not seem to be making any progress.

"Come on, come on, come on, come ON!"

And after a few people noticing and commenting loudly "Has that kid got constipation or something."

"Yeah looks like it, leave it to Naruto to suddenly need it and can't do it, all the while not being able to move because it hurts too much" a boy laughed.

Naruto looked up furiously at the two boys about a year older than him. "Shuddup! That only happened once!"

"Yeah whatever loser" The boys laughed at him again before finding someone else to pick on. The minutes slipped by and Naruto grew angrier with each passing second, The Uzumaki sign necklace he wore around his neck was starting to irritate his skin, so he unclipped it and slipped it inside his pocket.

"I'll show them, I'll show them all what I great ninja I can be!" he yelled into the sky. Suddenly once more unknown to him, his features changed. His nails grew longer, the shape to that of claws, his hair grew even spikier, if that were possible, short fangs erupted from his incisors and his eyes once more transformed to that of the dreaded nine tailed demon fox.

Slowly from Naruto's visions the world began to oddly stretch and reflex in front of him, he felt himself stretching too, and he was rushing straight for a back nothingness filled of rings of colour.

And then...he was gone.

* * *

Naruto felt as if he was caught in a massive sea storm where he could only catch glimpse of a few landscapes most of which were trees, all the while struggling against a non existing current, wave over wave crashing over him leaving him in tremendous pain, he didn't know what was up or down left or right, everything was spinning out of control.

The boy tried desperately to get a hold onto anything, his hands reaching out grasping thing air until he found something, almost like string, he pulled at it and found himself staring up at a crack in the dark abyss. But it felt wrong all wrong, like it was too soon, yet Naruto was scared and alone and this was his only chance at freedom from this horrible pain, he was running out of oxygen too.

He reached out a hand as he was nearing the crack and slipped it inside. Light Instantly appeared shinning from the gradually growing hole he was making. His hand on the other side latched onto something. _A branch? _Naruto thought while holding it firmly, and with one last final heave he pulled himself into a new world.

The moment Naruto entered this new dimension he threw up and let go of branch before realizing too late that he was at least 4 meters high. A thud echoed where he hit the ground and the boy groaned loudly. He was in a slumped over position with his rump sticking in the air. _How humiliating._

Birds whistling in the trees made Naruto tried to cover his ears. Well at least they stopped him from going into an unconscious state. He slowly pushed himself up used his arms. Muscles ached and a large headache was beginning to form. Wobbling side to side on his first few steps would let anyone mistake him for a child who had fallen into a barrel full of sake.

And he could tell why. This place was still not right. On the corners of his vision areas still stretched and relaxed and there was a dizziness essence to it. The boy leaned against a tree to catch his breath. "In out, in out. Easy does it Naruto." He was hyperventilating.

Naruto glanced around his surroundings. He was in unfamiliar territory. Trees sprouted up all around him. "So I guess I'm in a forest?" You guessed right Naruto. Well done, you earn a sticker.

However he was clever enough to know that this type of tree only grew in the land of fire, so he must be close to home. _Wait! _Naruto thought._ The jutsu! Did it work? _

_"_That must explain where I am n-!" Naruto was cut off as a something large slammed into him. He fell to1 the ground twisting his ankle. "What the hell!?" he yelled.

"Gah! I'm so sorry please forgive me, I wasn't looking!" Naruto looked up to see a beautiful woman with light brown braided hair, golden-brown eyes and strange dotted black markings under each eye.

But what made Naruto shudder was that she was soaked through with blood. It was dripping down her face and she had several large gash wounds along her arms legs (partially covered by a long ragged cloth that had a slit on one side). Not to mention the worrying cut on her forehead. With just this one look Naruto could tell she didn't have long left before either exhaustion or blood loss took her life.

The moment woman caught side of Naruto's top (the one with the leaf symbol on it) she gasped.

"You're a leaf ninja! Please take my child and this to the fourth Hokage!" She was on the verge of tears with desperation in her voice as she shoved a scroll in Naruto's pocket and handed him a large bundle he had failed to spot earlier. All he could do was sit there, shocked.

"Hang on I- the fourth hokage? He's dea-" Once again he was cut-off

"There's no time to waste, there are ninja after us, I can hold them off with my husband for a little while, but not for long. Please keep my child safe, hurry!" She began drastically helping Naruto to his feet and pushed him off in the direction he supposed was the leaf village

Naruto could do nothing else but obey the woman's orders, his head was whirling but once he got home, surely everything will be explained_. Right?_ No pain was felt from his earlier twisted ankle, but Naruto did not stop to contemplate as to why that was.

"Man, I'm going to be in so much trouble when I get back"

* * *

It started to rain and Naruto could feel the consequences of an empty stomach. Also he was worryingly weak from the journey, and he knew that if he didn't find shelter soon he would collapse, keeping in mind that he would fall on the bundle in his arms.

As he continued clumsily forward he could help but think back to strange woman and her words. _Why does she think the fourth Hokage's alive? _The boy wondered. While he was thinking of possible reasons his gaze wondered over a den-like structure made of rock. Naruto immediately began to pick up the pace, ignoring the pain in his head and abdomen.

Sturdy and hard, the den made an excellent shelter and was more than big enough for the both of them. Naruto sat down against the back wall of the small cavern and something crunched underneath his bottom. Sticking his hands in his back pocket he produced some biscuits. Smiling with glee Naruto opened them and within a matter of seconds all that remained were the wrappers.

With time on his side he spent it to investigate the bundle of clothing in his lap. The movements had caught his attention and he peeled back a loose flap of cloth to uncover a small angelic face. Big forest green intelligent eyes started up at him in wonder and fascination. Naruto was shocked to notice that the baby had four small rectangular-like dots along the bottom of each eye.

Memories flooded back into his mind when he remembered that the woman who gave him the kid had also the same markings, but more circular. Naruto did not want to check if it was a boy or a girl, he's had enough shockers for one day.

But those green eyes held his gaze. It was like a jungle in there, so many different hues and distinct shapes, Naruto swore that if he looked close enough he could see leaves falling and trees growing tall, and the wind rustling the grass, a whole world in the eyes of a child.

And the view started to change slight as he continued searching her irises, as if he was travelling through the jungle, but every single colour was green. Naruto broke the gaze with jumbled thoughts and shook his head.

Then the kid smiled and gurgled.

"Hey, what's so funny?" Naruto plastered a large grin on his face and spoke softly.

The baby gurgled once more and eyes pinpointed something on the ground beside them. Naruto's silver necklace must have fallen out of his pocket when he took out the food. As well as the scroll.

Naruto stared at the scroll then lifted the necklace. The child's eyes seemed to follow the necklace like a cat's follows a laser light. Naruto seeing a bit of fun, rose his arm and moved it from left to right, the shiny necklace dangling from his fingers, laughing when forest green eyes did the same.

"Why don't you hold onto to it, just until we get to Konoha, it's very precious to me. See," Naruto pointed at the silver pendent dangling from the necklace. "It's in the shape of the Uzumaki clan symbol. It's very important, the last link I have with my parents." Naruto looked down sadly. The symbol was attached to a delicate, but strong silver chain and it looked like this ~(link - badges-assets/978/2516904_ )

The six-year old placed the necklace around the child's neck, and it squealed in glee, a bit smile lighting up it's face. The Uzumaki kid was confused. The baby was a too young to be this intelligent, and able to recognize objects, but he dismissed it.

He cast a sideways glance at the scroll. Should i? or shouldn't i? As a future hokage of the leaf village I should make sure it is not a trap and read it! But what if it's scary?

Curiosity getting the better of him, he grabbed it and took a deep breath. Keeping one eye closed and the other squinted he proceeded to pull back the corner of the scroll, unravelling a few inches:

**'Fourth Hokage-'**

Snapped it shut and kicked it away to the other side of the cavern. Something was wrong. He could feel it. He was outside the village for sure. _But then where is the kunai? _Naruto Thought._ Maybe that woman thought the fourth was still alive, or made a spelling mistake, I make spelling and spoken mistakes all the time, it makes all the difference. I mean I once got mixed up with whore and horse. You do not want to get those mixed up, trust me._

_Naruto noticed_ that something had fallen out of the scroll when he had kicked it away. He picked it up and discovered a leather necklace with a small wooden symbol attached at the end. His eyes widened as he recognized the symbol. It was exactly like the Uzumaki, but backwards and in the middle of the swirl it had a small round dot. (this is what the leather necklace would look like, ignore the pendent in the photo. : upload/20110428/bullet_pendant_leather_

While he was staring at it, the child shuffled in his lap.

"Whoa, watch it!" he exclaimed as he steadied the bundle. He began imagining walking into the Hokage's office _"Yeah sorry Old man, but I was given a baby in the forest to give to you, not to mention I'm not even allowed out of Konoha, but anyways and I sat down in the middle of nowhere, it's quite funny really, and the baby just fell off my lap and is now unconscious, how about that?" Imaginary Naruto scratched the back of his head with a grin on his face._

Yeah that would not sit well with Sarutobi.

The six year old decided to put the necklace back in the scroll and tuck them into the baby's cloth. That way they wouldn't get separated and he wouldn't forget any of them.

"See I can be smart if I wanna be, ya know!" he raised his clenched fist and smiled while talking to, I presume the baby.

"huh?wassat?"The scene in front of him began to stretch again. Relaxing came next and it repeated the process over and over.

"AARRRGH!"Yelled Naruto as he clutched at his head, then the bundle. "Not again! No-wait I have to-"

Crying erupted from the baby as Naruto was pulled out of existence.

* * *

This time was much worse. Excruciating pain erupted from the boys belly as he felt like he was being ripped apart, the only thing holding him together was invisible strings. He gasped for air when he could find none, and he swore he left part of his(awesome) hair behind somewhere...wait no it was all there. _phew!_

Only Naruto would be worried about his hair at times like this, hang on, I can think of another.

Sasuke.

However unlike last time where Naruto had interrupted the jutsu by grabbing onto something, the blackness seemed to spit him out into the world. But Naruto couldn't care less. After all he was beginning the descent into unconscious and will be out in three...two...one.

* * *

"What the H-!" Kakashi fell, face first into something small, squidgy and brown on the ground.

Asuma turned his head and smiled in amusement.

"That'll teach you to clean up after your dogs, Kakashi."

Then he noticed the six year old child that was lying across the jonins back. Still. Not breathing.

"Crap."

How ironic.

* * *

"You were lucky, Naruto."

White walls. A clean smell, and an old man dressed in white robes sitting at the foot of his bed. _ah...did I eat too much ramen again? _Naruto thought once he blinked open his eyes. They flickered to the left when someone he didn't recognize walked through the door.

"Ah Tsunade, I was just telling our mascot here that he was lucky to be alive, thanks to you of course." The Third Hokage smiled up at his former student. Tsunade returned the smile but turning her face to Naruto.

The Six year old almost leapt out of the bed in fear.

The legendary sannin's eyes raged with anger and her mouth was drawn back in a snarl. Her fore head was creased, making her eyes even narrower, while her stance presumed she was going to hit something. Any second.

"What the hell were you thinking, you stupid brat! You could have gotten yourself killed, you know if i hadn't have been in fire country, we wouldn't be having this conversation and you would be six feet underground!" Her hair whipped around her face as she quenched her anger.

"I-uh I..."

Naruto struggled for words. "I need to pee!" he shouted as he ran, though still in pain, mind, out of the room and down the hall, anywhere just to get away from her and those fists of hers. Though he seemed to be pretty proud of himself to come up with such an amazing excuse.

That was until he felt something yank him back by the collar of his top. "Oh no you don't" stated the Hokage calmly. "We need to have a little chat Naruto, especially now that is seems your well enough."

Naruto looked into the thirds eyes and saw what he was really seeing._ I'm going to skin you alive, you little shit! _The kyuubi holder gulped.

A couple of hours later, Naruto was sitting in a wooden chair facing the large desk in the thirds office, twiddling his thumbs and smiling nervously.

"Naruto, you have, I think, successfully performed an S-rank jutsu. Now, by doing so you have broken at least 3 rules. "

"WHAT?! S-RANK!" Naruto pulled a shocked expression before jumping up in the air in glee, that is until he caught Sarutobi's glare and immediately sat down again.

"Rule 1. You snuck into my home and went through my belongings."

"Yeah about that old man, you should hide things better."

"What do you mean, Naruto?"

"Well there was this orange book under the bed-"

"You mean this?" The Hokage said as he lifted up the exact same book that was on the desk.

"Argh!" Yelled Naruto as he tried to get away from him as far as possible. "Keep that away from me, why do you have it anyway!"

"…This is our little secret okay Naruto, this here…is a book with information on..er the enemy, yes that's it!" Sarutobi sweat dropped. "Anyway, enough of that, secondly you tried to perform a forbidden jutsu, and thirdly, you went outside the village. Now I want you to tell me exactly what happened from when you stole the scroll, to this morning." He instructed.

_HELL YEAH! I SHARE A COOL SECRET WITH THE OLD MAN! _Naruto thought while he pondered all the evens that had been leading up to this one.

"Well, I placed a seal on a kunai I think. Then I gave it to a weird jonin, then I tried to make it worked, and people kept saying I had constipation-

"Naruto." Sarutobi's warning. "Just the basics."

"Right, sorry. Anyway I felt a sudden burst of strength, or something ya know? Then it felt like I was being swallowed by a massive black swirly tunnel thing. It was really painful and I couldn't breathe. So I managed to grab hold of something and pull myself out."

"What was it?"

"a branch I think, then I hurt my ankle when I fell, and then this woman bumped into me, and I swear, she was dying, she had these cool markings under her eyes though. She told me to run while she stayed behind and gave me a baby to take to the fourth, but I think she meant you old man. Anyway I managed to hide in a cave, and found out that the baby had markings too!"Naruto exclaimed.

"Then what happened?" The third looked deep in thought. Worry etched all over his face.

"Then I put the scroll in the babys cloth, and the blackness swallowed me up again!." Naruto scratched his head. "I'm not sure what happened after that Just that I was spit out onto something soft."

"That would have been Kakashi." Sarutobi glanced to his left. "Tenzo."

"Sir." An ANBU appeared with a cat mask on. Naruto stared in awe.

"Bring me Kakashi. Now." The Hokage ordered with a wave of his hand. 'Tenzo' bowed before disappearing in a puff of smoke.

Awkward silence filled the void between Naruto and Hiruzen.

"So…."

"You can start by apologizing for breaking and entering." Hiruzen said calmly while they both waited for the Jonin to show up.

"Yeah but, the window was open, practically inviting in anyone, so really it's not my fault. In fact it's yours for leaving you place unlocked. Yeah! I was just..err...showing you how easy it is for a criminal to break- in if you just even leave the smallest of windows open. Being the protector of this city, you should be ashamed of yourself, Old man!" Naruto yelled as he grew more and more confident.

The Third gave Naruto and odd look. "You've been watching the 'How to get out of trouble' show again, haven't you Naruto? Because that is almost word for word one of their excuses on how to shift the blame onto someone else." The look of on Naruto's face confirmed his suspicions.

"How did you know?!"

"I have to watch the show myself, in order to catch brats like you when you copy their methods."

"That's one of them! Old man! You use them too, don't you? "

"I don't know what you're talking about."The Third crossed his arms and went into a huff.

Knock, knock, knock.

They both turned around as the hokage said "Come in." A tall Jonin with large bushy gray hair stepped into the room. His Eyes narrowed as he spotted Naruto.

"You wanted me, lord Hokage?" Kakashi asked. The Jonin had been spending 3 days (since Naruto has been unconscious for that long)in the shower, scrubbing his face until his skin was raw, devoid of any essence of dog waste.

"Yes. Do you have the kunai; this child here gave to you three days ago."

"Of course it's right here."Kakashi patted his weapons pouch before taking out a kunai and tossing it to the hokage who caught it in an instant.

"hmm…the brat wasn't lying it. Seems there's a faded seal on here, and from what you told me Kakashi, he managed to perform the flying thunder God Technique, however there was a large price, you were nearly torn in half Naruto, and like I said before, you shouldn't be here right now if it was for Tsunade." The hokage gave him another stern look.

The boy raised his hands in surrender. "It's not my fault, ya know. I didn't know it could do that!"

"It said exactly what could happen in the scroll."

"Oh. I must've missed it. Whoops, I guess?"

"Idiot." The hokage mumble as his slapped his palm against his face. "Anyway Kakashi, I think this involves you more than it seems, and someone else"

"Wait- you don't mean R-"

"Yes I do, Naruto you may leave now." Sarutobi motioned towards the door while Kakashi wandered casually over to the large desk to discuss matters with the old man.

"Hold it just one second! I'm a part of this too, ya know! Shouldn't I know what happened, you can't just leave me in the dark, ya know!" The six year old yelled pointing an accusing finger at Hiruzen.

"Oh alright then, but don't blame me if you don't understand it."

"I'm not that stupid, ya know." Naruto pulled a large grin facing both of them.

"B-but lord Hokage, won't this endanger… you know…" Kakashi trailed off, looking expectantly at the old man.

"Nonsense, he has a right to know, anyway, it's not as if I'm telling him who thingy is, am I?" The Hokage replied.

"Okay, whatever, let's just hope the brat doesn't grind you down anymore."

"Who are you calling a brat?! I'm nearly six years old, ya know!" Naruto fumed, angry eyes darting between Kakashi and his leader.

_This kid is starting to give me a headache_, Kakashi groaned inwardly. _If he says ya know one more time…_

Sarutobi cleared his throat.

"What you did Naruto somehow altered the past-No! I will not answer you questions now, only when I've finished! Anyway, first of all I'm going to tell you a long story, so please don't interupt."

At the mention of a long story, unknown to the hokage and Kakashi at the time, Naruto slipped his hand into his pocket, pulled out an object and flace them firmly on his face before starting his daily routine into sleep.

"Around six years ago…NARUTO! TAKE THOSE STUPID GLASSES OFF!" The Hokage yelled, spit erupting form his mouth.

Naruto launched into the air in fright. On his face was a pair of ordinary black glasses. However when Naruto took them off it showed that blue eyes had been _painted on the lenses. _Naruto filled with slight embarrassment handed them to Kakashi before reaching into his pocket again.

"So help me god if you have a another pair." Sarutobi growled. Naruto dropped his hand. _Dammit! I'm going to have to use them another time, _The six year old thought.

"Do you want to hear this story or not!" At Naruto's nod, the third continued.

"As I was Saying, Sometime around six years ago, in the forest outside our village, in the land of fire…

* * *

**Anyway**, this is my first fanfic, I know it's really slow and there doesn't really seem to be much more of a plot, but don't worry it's get more interesting in the next chapter and the chapters to come. This one is really boring compared to the rest of the story so please hang on and keep with it.

Also if you spot any spelling or punctuation mistakes, feel free to tell me, or any mistakes that I've made in the naruto world if you get what i mean, like for example, Kakashi is really a chunin(even though we know he's not).

Also if you really hated this story, please don't go on a big rant or something, maybe give me some hints to improve it so you hate it just a tiny bit less :)

Reviews are always welcome even if a bit critical, but not too critical, cause i will be very upset, as it is very hard for me to take criticism coz I'm a wimp :P

wow, i am in a really good mood today(hence the smileys!) :D

My apologies for the absolutely shit title, as the story progresses, if anyone wants to help me out tin that department, feel free, something funny would be good, cause i think we all know by now, I'm not good at that stuff.

**Okami out.**


	2. Chapter 2 : Sorry My hand slipped

**Okami in (yeah i might just say "Okami out" at the end, "Okami in" just sounds ...wrong...and sexual...eugh forget i just said that! erase it from your minds!)**

**Sorry, I haven't updated this, I've been pretty busy with GCSE's(If you're American, this might not compute)**

_**oh and heres a key :**_

_Thoughts inside someones head..freaky right :P (sorry in a real funny mood today, SEE! that was in MY head, you get it? no? Then you're stupid! for some reason when your reading this type of font on mobiles, it's bold italics which is really annoying, so i'll try and make it clear which ones the inner voice and which ones the user's thoughts._

**_Conscience _**(you know that little voice inside your head, as if you've got someone trapped there. NO! it's not the same as thought. Anyway and when someone hears it, they react to it in an instant, so it's kind of like instinct too, no..wait..it's instinct to react to it, yep there we go. This is very important because it is actually something more, for now you will know it as conscience and all will be revealed(much later on), because only Sakura has a true conscience, mwuahahahaha!

" _emphasis_ on a word." (you can distinguish it between thought if there is one word in italics in a sentence where all the other words are normal font, and also if it is in speech, like i just did there. Now you are more stupid, because i probably gave you the wrong explanation.

SHOUTING! (because talking normally is not good enough for some people, often ends with an exclamation mark.

**Writing in books, scrolls, sign posts and more. (and also my little intro's)**

**"Tailed beast speech" **coz who wouldn't give them their own font. I mean c'mon! They have this massive booming voice and their not shouting, this is more than appropriate don't get confused with the one above, this one had speech..thingies(this is why i fail at english. Scottish kids should not be made to do such a language! It is against our will... and our fight to** FREEDOM! **see how i used both shouting and tailed beast speech, because seriously. Scots are made of some tough shit. :P

**right lets get on with it. And don't remind my that i haven't capitalized my i's... i am a rebel!**

* * *

**Chapter 2 : "Sorry. My hand slipped."**

* * *

"quick, this way"

The summer night was eerily still save for the mockingbirds occasionally preening their feathers high up in the canopy of the forest, shrill cries forcing it's way from their throats into the air. A full moon shined brightly and glared down at the three shadowy figures crossing its path. This moon is the first part of a blue moon, which would appear later on in the month, a rare occasion.

The said figures leap from tree to tree, using the branches in order to propel themselves forwards, a much faster and quicker way of travelling opposed to the common method of running on the ground. After all they are ninja

The leader of the three shivered despite wearing an extra layer: a short-sleeved long white haori over his normal attire, decorated by flames-like motifs on the edges, with the kanji for "Fourth Hokage" written vertically down the back, and closed on the front by a thin, orange rope.

Close behind him is a spiky gray-haired teenager, bearer of a mask that covers both his mouth and nose, and shows only his right eye due to covering up his left by sliding down one side of his headband. The leaders other accomplice, placed at the rear is an older man with spiked hair that falls to his waist, accompanied by red markings on his face originating from the bottom of his eyes and vanishing below his jaw, as if the man had been crying blood.

"Minato sensei what is it?" One black eye met that of the fourth Hokage's.

"Stupid brat!" exclaimed the ninja at the rear. "Can't you recognize a baby crying when you hear one?!"

The teen scratched his head. "All i can hear are the mocking birds."

"Don't forget Kakashi, mockingbirds copy the tunes and sounds around them. "Minato replied calmly,his eyes narrowed "We are following the mockingbirds to the source, hopefully we are not too late."

Kakashi gulped as to was his sensei meant by too late. A baby out in the forest? where was it's parents?! There was no chance it could survive alone.

As they progressed the trees thinned out into a small clearing. Placed the opposite side of the area was a large mound of rocks. A small black opening sent shivers down the jonin's back when he heard piercing cries originating from the darkness.

The ninja stood, cautiously on a thick branch, overlooking the situation. Immediately Kakashi leaped forwards "Hurry! It's alive!"

But before he could hit the ground running a hand shot out and grabbed the teens jacket, pulling his back. "Be patient, this could be a trap. Jiraiya-sensei, scout the area and inform me if you spot anything suspicious."The hokage ordered.

"Yeah whatever, who knew the great JIRAIYA would be taking orders from his previous student. " The older nin grumbled as he disappeared from sight using the body flicker jutsu.

At that precise moment several shadows danced around the clearing below. Minato put a hand in front of Kakashi to hold him back.

"Wolves."

His former student looked worriedly at the supposed wolf den. "Minato sensei, what do we do?!"

"We wait."

"but-"

"Shh!" The fourth quieted the jonin.

Down below owners of the shadows finally came into view. The pack were all normal grey wolves and were rather large. Supposedly the Alpha female pricked her ears at the loud crying coming from the den. The wolf entered and returned-only upon her return she carried a newborn baby by the scruff of clothing wrapped tightly around it's tiny body.

The female settled down the baby and curled around it while the rest of the pack looked on. Amazingly the baby suckled from the she-wolfs belly.

"Ewww...gross."Kakashi pulled a face.

"Not so 'gross' if it means survival for the child."

"Well,what are we waiting for?" The teen was becoming more and more frustrated. It wasn't like Minato to neglect a helpless child, then again Kakashi recalled Jiraiya mentioning that the fourth does not do anything without good reason, so he waited for his sensei to explain.

The fourth Hokage signaled at the pack . "If we attack we or the wolves could end up accidentally harming the baby or we could pose as a threat to the pack, it is well known that wolves will kill their own pups to escape. The she-wolf seems to think of the child as her cub. We will wait until she is a good foot away from the baby before performing the flying thunder God technique, otherwise it might turn into a tug of war and the wolves will wound me as well as the child."

The fourth took out two of his special kunai and dug one into the trunk of the tree at the level they were standing. He flipped the other one in his hand anxiously waiting for his chance.

Faint rustling behind them revealed the toad sage to have returned.

"Minato! I've found two bodies close by, possibly the parents of this child. The woman has Okami clan markings, but I can't be sure as that clan is even more scattered than the Uzumaki and rarer, also- EWWWWWW..GROSS" The sage's face distorted and he stuck out his tongue.

Minato sighed and slapped his palm onto his face, letting it slide down. Jiraiya was even more immature than kids at the academy. Then the news settled in.

"Jiraiya sensei, Kakashi, take the bodies back to the hidden leaf. Head straight for the Hokage tower and explain things to the third. I will settle things later."

"Hai!" They replied and took off with Jiraiya in the lead.

The fourth stood on the branch, patiently waiting once more. Almost two minutes after the other nin left the she-wolf raised to full height, separating herself from the baby. _Now_

He wasn't known as the Yellow Flash for nothing. He accurately threw his kunai just and inch away from the child, which alerted the wolves so he had to act quickly. At will he appeared among them. As fast as light he snatched the baby and retreated back into the canopy using the same technique with the kunai he had lodged in the tree trunk.

He could hear the fierce growls and snapping jaws from the clearing below.

Minato cradled the bundle in his arms, amazingly the child was silent and instead looking at him with wonder in it's big yellow cat-like eyes and a face as calm as the- WAIT! _yellow cat-like eyes?!_

The fourth stopped in his tracks, pursuing a second glance at the child's eyes.

"Huh. Green with a normal pupil, I could've sworn..." Never mind. "There are more pressing matters at hand." Looking down at the baby again a smile had lit of it's face, and the hokage thought he saw recognition in it's eyes.

...It took them two hours before they arrived at the Konoha gates. The guards looked shocked to find their Hokage with a baby in his arms.

"I'm guessing your meeting with the Mizukage went well?" one of them volunteered to speak.

"Anything but." Minato smiled cheerfully, strange regarding the situation. "Has anyone else passed through tonight?"

"Only Lord Jiraiya and Kakashi, though they both seemed to be carrying something large-"

"Thank you." and with that the Hokage hurried to the tower.

...

Later on, the council, Minato, the Third,Jiraiya and Kakashi were all seated in the conference room.

Minato was talking. "I found this scroll in the baby's cloth. It is addressed to me, asking me to protect this child as the parents could not. It does state that the child is of the lost clan Okami, and there are a number of secret clan techniques also, only available to the child as it is her birthright. The scroll also has information on that this child carries a special kekkai genkai or chakra of some sort and that this is top-secret information and must be concealed. Our previous suspicions that the Okami did have a special chakra or secret weapon must be true, and part of the reason they went into hiding after the second world shinobi war. It is possible that this is last remaining child of the clan as there have been known to be shinobi hunt down the members in order to gain their special abilities and Clan knowledge and kill them after."

"Tests are being done now to conclude whether the bodies we found are the child's parents. Does anyone have any other information?" Sitting down Minato stared at each of the council members.

Jiraiya stretched. "Both the man and woman we found have substantially large chakras(what I mean by that is they have naturally large chakra reserves, that probably could have grown if they trained as ninja), however it seems they have no control whatsoever, well the man had a little, it seems he performed a sort of sealing jutsu recently, but not one i recognized, meaning they were not ninja, a shame as they would be a great attribute and had good potential. The woman is definitely of Okami relation, she has the distinctive markings under each of her eyes. And the Man must be in the Uzumaki clan."

"And how can you tell that?." One of the council members sneered.

Jiraiya raised an eyebrow. "Well if the Uzumaki clan symbol on his headband isn't clue, then maybe his unusual red hair colour is." He deadpanned.

The council member looked taken aback. "I thought you said they weren't ninja."

"I don't mean the ninja forehead protected , just a headband with stitching."

Sarutobi interrupted the oncoming verbal battle by raising his hand. Then he turned to Minato. "What are we going to do with the child Minato?" he asked in his husked voice.

"Because the parent entrusted to me to protect this child, I will adopt it. I am the Hokage, it is my responsibility to look after the welfare of my people and I cannot see a better protector than myself. I should not burden someone else with this responsibility."

"What about Kushina?! Is she not already seven months pregnant, how can you take up this much responsibility?" Homura asked.

"Kushina will be honored to have a distant blood relative(very,very distant), and you forget that there is two of us, and a lot of parents have to deal with twins. Also Naruto will have a playmate, which is quite suitable considering both their clans originate back to Uzushiogakure, and being that they were both very close and powerful clans."

"Alright." Sarutobi bowed his head in agreement. "Lets put it to a vote, all those in favour of Minato adopting this child as his own and letting the child grow up as a shinobi- if they have the potential- in Konoha raise your-

"I have a proposition." Danzo Shimura interrupted.

"Go on." Minato offered.

"It seems this child has great potential, and could be used to boost Konoha's military force. I offer that she be trained in Root, with me and the rest of root as her mentors. This special chakra or kekkai genkai would be very useful to us." Danzo licked his lips eagerly.

"Danzo as much as I appreciate your concern for the safety for the village, I will not allow this child to be used as a weapon. Every shinobi has the right to decide their fate. Now shall we carry on. Those who agree with my proposition, raise your hand." Yondaime concluded. He raised his right hand as did five more out of the total eleven.

"Thank you for agreeing with me." Minato bowed his head. He stole a glance at Danzo. _I will have to watch him from now on._

"You are dismissed, I appreciate you all coming here." Minato waved his hand as he retread back to his desk. "Kakashi."

The Joni stopped in his tracks. "Yes Minato sensei?"

"Come here. Lord Sarutobi, will you please wait also. I need a witness."

The old man nodded and followed Kakashi to Minato's side.

The fourth revealed an adoption paper, which he scribbled down his signature at the bottom. "Hiruzen, would you please?" he asked politely.

"Of course." The previous Hokage did the same.

"Now Kakashi, from your skills in responsibility lately and your good morale's if anything were to happen to me and Kushina, I would like you to look after the Okami child. If you wish to decline, I understand, but keep in mind, I'm not asking you to take responsibility shortly, hopefully I will be around for a long time."

The Jonin stood, shocked, his eye widening from the news. "I-uh..." He had several images going through his head, one was strangely him breastfeeding the baby. To clear his mind he gave himself a shake.

"Of course." he answered, trying to sound firm, but instead cam out as a squeak.

Minato chuckled. "Please sign here then, as her legal guardian" He offered the pen.

Kakashi took it, trembling with fear and nauseousness he wrote his full name along with Minato's and Sarutobi's.

"Now we need a name for this child..."Hiruzen thought out loud.

Minato glanced around his office for some inspiration, until his eyes landed on a photograph upon his desk. It showed both Minato and Kushina smiling and both holding a large white waterlily, so big they needed to hold it together to show of it's size.

"How about..Renata Namikaze."

* * *

"So all in all, you performing this jutsu, saved a life, in a way, even if you violated a number of our laws, you should be proud of yourself Naruto."

Naruto stared blankly at the shinobi.

"I don't get it."

A vein bulged in Kakashi's forehead. He took a deep breath.

"Basically, Naruto, using this jutsu while you were being transported to a different location, you had to pass a lot of time vortex's and whatnot, meaning you were passing through time and alternative universes because it is a space-time jutsu, but just before you completed your journey, something interrupted the journey and you got snagged in a world six years in the past."

"Still not getting it."

The hokage gave the jonin a look as if to say ' this nothing compared to what I have dealt with these past years since Naruto has started talking' before turning to the boy.

"Think of it like this, you perform the jutsu to transport you to the special kunai, so you go through a tunnel because it's a journey, however before you get to the end of the tunnel you break away part of the tunnel wall and climb out but into the past because the tunnel travels through time. But for safety measures a rope is attached around your waist to pull you back after a limited time of exploring to finish the journey."

"Ohh - no. Almost...one more try?" Naruto asked.

"Never mind, lets just say you traveled back in time where you safely hid a baby, which had you not done the baby would have been killed. The baby was found by the fourth hokage and Kakashi here, and currently resides in Konoha. " The Hokage finished.

"Wow, so I saved someone's life?! Naruto giddy with excitement jumped up from the chair. "Who is it?!"

"I'm sorry Naruto but for safety reasons I am not permitted to give away any more information about her than I already have."

Kakashi leaned in to whisper in the Hokage's ear. "But sir, didn't you already tell him nearly everything he needs to know?!"

"Ha! So it's a girl! You can't stop me now, I have all the facts...now what was her name again...?" Naruto trailed off in thought as he tried to remember anything the hokage told him, but could only conjure up the information he already had beforehand.

The Hokage whispered back . "This way, he won't have to argue that we didn't tell him everything that he has the right to know of, which he does in a way, but don't worry, that boy has the attention span of a-"

"SQUIRREL!"

Naruto's eyes darted out the window as he spotted the furry rodent and ran off in pursuit of his new target.

"What a retarded kid." The jonin whistled.

The Third just bowed his head in agreement.

* * *

After conversing with Sarutobi about the whole fiasco, Kakashi Hatake retired from the Hokages office. After all, he had a lunch date to attend to with a kunoichi at his apartment. Being 19 years old and having his current occupation as a high ranking jonin, the shinobi had brought in a substantial amount of money, enough to make his home, shall I say "more comfortable" and had what many other ninja homes lacked in the quality of furniture department. So his clean,tidy and nice looking home was sure to impress the kunoichi.

After all, he had told her to make herself at home,(before being ordered away by the hokage) so his wealth could sink in. The only room that seemed small and plain was his bedroom.

_Well that doesn't matter, it's not like she was going to see it...or will she?_ Kakashi thought with a perverted look on his face, though only those who know him well enough could tell, due to his face being obscured by a mask.

The Jonin arrived within mere minutes and ruffled through his pockets,searching for his keys, before he remembered it was open. Chuckling to himself at his own stupidity, Kakashi reached for the door knob. What happened instead was the the door flung open from the inside, and holding the handle was Nukoma Mirafimi, somewhat enraged and upset.

The Kunoichi pointed a dangerous finger at Kakashi's face as he cowered in fear, which increased when her glare found his eye.

"You never said _anything_ about A KID!"

Her roar rivaled that of the tyrannosaurus Rex...and Nessie's ;P

The older teen flinched and devoted his gaze to behind and to the left of Nukoma. His eye narrowed when he spotted a six year-old girl smiling nervously and uneasily,trying to divert her gaze to anywhere but him. Noted that there was a frying pan upside-down atop her head. Wonder how that got there.

Nukoma stomped past Kakashi like the angry stegosaurus she was,muttering how she was not ready for this type of commitment.

"W-Wait! Nukoma!She's not my kid!" He yelled in a last effort to redeem himself.

"Thats what they all say!" She retorted and disappeared from sight.

Kakashi groaned as he slowly dragged his palm down his face. He stumbled into his apartment and plopped himself down on the couch.

The girl opened her mouth to speak and shut it immediately after being silenced by Kakashi's raised hand.

"I asked you to do one thing. You had one task...to stay in the cupboard until the date was done." The jonin drawled and sighed as if the world just ended.

The girl shrugged her shoulders apologetically and tried to look innocent.

"Oops?"

"Oops?OOPS?!_THAT _was the first date I've had in _six years _, thanks to you." Even though he didn't mean it, and the girl knew that, she still flinched.

Silence passed.

"I needed to pee."

"I gave you a pan, which you are currently wearing."

"It served better as a hat, the pipes were leaking or something."

"Liar, you just "felt sorry for someone that looked so alone" again, didn't you?And because of that it probably won't be years before I get another date."

After many moments the girl sat on the arm of the sofa and chuckled uneasily, trying to lighten the mood.

"No pain, no game right?"

Kakashi glared at her, though it was partly mock. That is until he truly saw what he was looking at.

"How many times have I told you _not _to sit on the couch arms." He said in a dangerously low tone.

The girl shuffled. "Two?"

"_EVERYDAY!" _The Jonin screeched. "I ask you not to do one simple thing, one thing!"

"Actually.. you ask me not to do a lot of things, and almost all are not simple." The girl replied in a monotone voice before clamping a hand over her mouth.

Kakashi's face turned purple.

"YOU ARE RUINING MY LIFE!" The usually lazy teen leaped for her. "COME HERE SO I CAN KILL YOU!"

Alarmed the girl sprang from the couch and thus began a game of cat and mouse. Towards the end the girl was screaming with laughter and excitement as Kakashi let out his playful side and tackled her to the floor.

"No...Noooo! Anything but-"

" A Thousand Years of Tickles!" the Jonin announced before executing his 'jutsu'.

* * *

"I am truly sorry, Nii-san." The girl mumbled.

The 'siblings' were now walking down the main street of Konoha through the marketplace, Kakashi giving the girl a piggy-back, something he did often.

"It's okay, I probably didn't have a chance with her, anyway." Kakashi tried to reassure her.

"Phew, I'm glad you realized, I mean, she was waaaaay out of your league."

A vein bulged in the jonin's forehead.

"Bu that wasn't what I was apologizing for." She said as she pointed to Kakashi's bruised face.

"hmmm?"

"I just tend to strike out when I'm being tickled or something."

"Or something, eh?" The older teen ruffled her hair. He just happened to be stuck with one that had a catchphrase.

"Well that frying pan had it coming for it." Kakashi tried to make light out of the situation. "Anyway, I think it looks better now , with an imprint of my face, don't you think, Renata."

Silence answered him. Her turned his head to see her head tipped down so her bangs covered the top half of her face. He carried on pretending not to notice the sudden change in her attitude.

"It's Ren." She muttered darkly.

"But that's not your name."Kakashi teased, knowing full well where this was heading.

"You know very well that's what dad used to call me ." she sighed. Kakashi froze. He still couldn't get over the fact that she was different..in some ways more than one.

"Nii-san?" Ren filled the silence.

"You shouldn't say things like that in public or people will get suspicious."

"Sorry."

"Just keep those plasters on and try to watch what you say, and it will be alright. Just until you get stronger."

"Okay." she whimpered. Then decided to return to the previous topic. "But it's not just because it's a nickname, it's because Renata means flower ,or something. Delicate and fragile. Half the kunoichi in this village are named after flowers, and most are not nearly as half as strong as the men. I think it's also because Kunoichi don't get trained as harshly because they are seen as 'flowers' and don't get the skills they need or something, so they always rely on the men. I want to be an example, that kunoichi can be strong! But having a name that means water-lily...it's just..the whole thing is so degrading, I mean I know dad called me that because it meant something special to him, but I also think he thought the way I did, considering he called me Ren too, unless that was just out of laziness or something. I just want to prove that Kunoichi can be as good as men. And that we can protect this village without being rescued all the time, and gain the acknowledgment we deserve. Thats why...I want to become the first female Hokage! I want to show that I can protect this village, no matter what my gender is. I just don't want anyone to think that we are weak. Konoha will need someone after the Third goes, which hopefully won't be for a while. And I want to be that someone...or something."

Kakashi listened with amazement at Ren's speech. He also noticed some of the other villagers listening and clapped quietly after it it, smiling with appreciation.

Ren ducked her head in embarrassment.

"That was a very fine statement, Ren. And you know what?"

"What?"

"I think you will change the village for the better, even if you don't become Hokage." He eye-smiled at her (because that's what I'm going to say whenever he smiles form now on, because you can't really see his smile)

"Thanks nii-san." She said as she wrapped her arms loosely around in neck in a warm embrace.

A sudden ruckus caught the siblings attention. Further on down the street a young boy was in a heated argument with a civilian. Ren could make out the words "Have you seen.", "baby" and "Eye-dots." The girl stared in confusion, thinking about what to make of the scene in front of them. Ren slipped off Kakashi's back to get a better view while walking beside her brother.

When she heard "Piss off!" from the civilian she noted the boy ducking his head and coming towards the siblings.

Kakashi noticed this too and acted quickly. By acting quickly I mean striking out his right arm and punching Ren in the side of the head.

The impact was so great that the girl was immediately thrown back from the force and hit the stone wall at the side of the street, concealed mostly by the stores and stands. when there was a gap between stalls, the villagers stacked and stored sandbags in that space for later use. These sand bags are what softened her landing as she hit them, then rolled over and landed behind them, hidden from the sight of a certain blonde spiky-haired boy. Unfortunately they only cushioned part of her, while the rest of her body banged against the wall, which formed a crack from the affect.

The whole thing took a less than a second.

Naruto eyed Kakashi warily as he walked passed him, dismissing the sand puffing up into the air to his left. "I'm close, believe it!"

Kakashi just blatantly ignored him.

"Hey! Answer me!" Kakashi flinched. He felt like he was betraying his sensei, but at the moment Renata's safety came first, and he was not going to let a blabbermouth spoil that. He could tell his time travelling story and nobody would believe him, thinking it was an attention-seeking scheme but if he had Renata as proof well then that would be a different story. And the Jonin knew the boy knew that, the only reason for Naruto keeping his mouth shut. For now. But if he did find her, then he would blurt out everything, and people would become suspicious. Certain unnamed people,that is.

"You're just like everyone else!" The boy yelled at him and Kakashi jumped slightly at the statement. "What's wrong with me!" The frustrated six year old grabbed at his head and began pulling on his hair. The Jonin sighted tears streaming down Naruto's face before the kyuubi container ran off. Kakashi sighed for the umpteenth time that day, but this one was full of regret.

"What was that for?" Ren asked, not even the slightest bit annoyed, just curious, as she pulled herself up using the sandbags and started to dust the sand off her clothes. She stumbled back into the street while using her her hands to pop her dislocated jaw back into place. She scrunched her face up during the procedure which only took about too seconds then relaxed.

"Sorry. My hand slipped." Kakashi drawled as he hid a smile.

"Huh. Nice going. You dislocated my jaw and I think I broke a rib against that wall or something."

"Well I didn't think you'd mind anyway, after all you have a particularly high pain threshold."

"Nii-san...I have the lowest pain threshold , probably in this whole village. I just don't let on." Ren smiled. "But then again, I've got massive amounts of chakra reserves to make up for it. You know, by the time I've become a genin, I think we both know I'll have more than you do now, after all my real parents also had _mahoosive_ amounts, and when I train to become a ninja, mine will only grow or something." The six-year old grinned at the thought. "And I'll be the strongest Hokage yet!Excluding dad, of course." she added.

Ren glanced back at the crack her body had made in the wall and cracked her neck, back and finger joints back into place.

"Some would say this is child abuse."

"Others would say it was obedience training."

* * *

"OKay open it up."

"You know I swear my birthday was four days ago or something..."

"Do you know what I had to do, to get this for you...do you know what? If you don't want it then I'll take it back!"

"No!" Ren yelled. "I never said such a thing." Clutching the long rectangular box to her chest.

It was the next day after Kakashi's and Naruto's meeting with the Hokage and Ren was still feeling the effects of getting punched by a jonin. The girl had in fact completely forgotten her birthday, and today was the reminder of it when Kakashi presented to her a present.

The Jonin grinned. " Well go on open it."

Ren slid her finger under the lid and pull it up, ever so cautiously, trying to get a sneak peak.

"Squirt, it's not Christmas when I let you have a sneak peak at one of your presents, just open it for Kami's sake."

In a motion the yellow flash would be proud of the lid of the box vanished. Inside were what seemed to be two wooden staffs. Though they were both half the size, if you put them together they would make a 140 cm staff. To Ren, they were perfect.

The six-year old leaped into her brothers arms and hugged him tightly

"Thank you,thank you,than you!" She whispered in glee. She couldn't believe it! Now she would have her own signature techniques as a ninja. The girl couldn't wait to enroll in the academy in three weeks time.

Unfortunately the council had persuaded the hokage to hold her back and tried to stop her from becoming a ninja because then she would be allowed out the village and that was 'dangerous' for her, practically meaning they didn't want a weapon in their enemies hands.

Fortunately though the Hokage agreed to hold her back a year he made it clear she would be joining when she was six years old.

Picking up her (I don't know what they're called, if anyone knows please say, or if you can think up of a really cool name for them) half-staffs, one in each hand, Ren placed herself into a fighting stance and beckoned Kakashi to spar with her.

A wild grin lit up her face when he agreed and they both danced back and fourth. While doing so the jonin noted how much potential Ren had as a ninja and how she was a natural, with her movements flowing both graceful and powerful.

_"Shame they weren't ninja, they had potential"_

Kakashi thought back to Jiraiya's statement of Ren's parents. Looking at her now he could see her parents potential passed down to her. But he also thought of something else, a lot to do with Ren's personality and her attitude to certain things.

_She's like a carbon-copy of Minato sensei, Naruto may have his looks, and some parts of his personality, but Renata's got his inner mind and thoughts. _Kakashi thought. He still didn't understand why.

3 months old? 3 months spent in his company. That was not enough time to take Minato as a role model and follow his ideals, especially not at that age when the brain isn't fully formed enough to remember. But somehow Renata did. None of them could work it out, him nor the hokage, and Ren was as clueless as they were as to how she remembered everything since she was born, and in such detail, so that things like words she remembered being said around her when she was a baby, she could understand now, and remember it vividly.

_Could this possibly be a part of the special traits of the Okami clan?_

"Squirt, see those weapons you got there. Did you know that your dad made them for you when you were two months old?" _Nope I guess not_, he thought when he saw the shocked expression on Ren's face.

"He wanted you to have something from him for when you were older to remind you of your heritage and your clans home. See your clan's main family head often used the wooden staff as their main weapon. When they were young it was just two half-staffs like yours, but as they got older and taller, somehow they would merge them together to make a very powerful staff, I'm not sure how, but I think Minato did. He also said something about how they were made from a sacred Ironwood tree, which he made your own from when he went on a mission to Uzushiogakure."

"Dad knew so much about my clan, what else did he mention." Eager for more and unable to contain her excitement , Ren sat down on the couch to calm down.

The teen did the same.

"Something about how there was a common nature release in your clan, passed down through the main family not a kekkai genkai mind. And how it must be used to connect your too staffs. I think he believed you had it too, After all your real mother was the heir to the Okami clan. And not only do you have strong Okami blood, but your real father was an Uzumaki, though when we compared his DNA to Kushina's , it's seems he was very distantly related,but an Uzumaki nonetheless You have no idea how great a shinobi you can become Renat-Ren. Perhaps even better than me." he said with a smirk.

His sister showed little surprise as he progressed, and the jonin realized she must have heard snippets of it all before but not put together like this so there was no real shock, just her past confusion replaced with understanding. And then something in her face made him think she was going to change the subject.

"You know what Nii-san? I really admire you, even if I don't show it much, and you can be kinda lazy. But the best thing about you is that you never leave anyone behind. _"In the ninja world, those who break the rules are trash. However, those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash" _or something remember?! I won't forget that ever Nii-san. And you are so powerful! I can see how you made chunin at only 6 years old!" He was right, yet he didn't realize she did it because Ren was suspicious of if anyone listening through the open window on the other side of the room.

At that moment Kakashi had only one thought :_ Obito_

"Hey squirt" he ruffled her hair. " If they had entered you in the academy last year, I'm positive you would've been the same, especially with me helping you along the way." he winked, though Ren was unsure considering his other eye was covered up.

"Nii-san?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm glad your my brother."

Shock showed clearly on his face . Then he eye-smiled.

"Me too. Minato and Kushina were very glad to have you as a daughter."

"Thanks, nii-san. I needed to hear that...hmm...or something" Yawning and stretching her arms over her head, she curled up to the older teen,top half lying on him,while bottom half taking up some space on the couch. Steady deep breathing proved Kakashi's suspicions of her falling into unconsciousness.

He lightly placed his arms around her and shuffled her into a more comfortable position. His eyelid felt heavy with tiredness,

He closed his eye and felt sleep drag him off into a dream.

They stayed like that until the morning sunlight shone through the windows.

* * *

Naruto growled in frustration. "ARRRRGH!"he yelled into the sky, gaining him several concealed looks from civilians._ How could it be so hard to find one baby. _

_That stupid jonin! _The nerve! He didn't even have the decency to acknowledge him when Naruto spoke to him two days ago. _He's hiding something, he must be! Stupid Kakashi,stupid Hokage,stupid baby that I can't find._

Poor Naruto. He doesn't seem to realize that that baby is the same age as him, focusing on the fact Ren was a baby when he met her. The boy just does not understand even the slight basics of time travel.

Naruto kicked at the ground. "I mean come on! How many babies have small black rectangles under their eyes. I've checked every baby with green eyes, but none of them have them! Also none of them had _those_ type of green eyes." He thought out loud to no one in particular.

It's been almost two weeks since he went back in time and he was now hanging about the academy, on his favourite lonely swing feeling miserable.

Shouting erupted from the undergrowth behind him.

The six-year old jumped before deciding to move closer to get a better view as to what was going on.

Three older kids surrounded a little six year old girl with shiny navy hair in a short, levelled hime-cut style just above her forehead, with chin-length strands framing her face. From Naruto's point of view, and almost everyone else at that fact if they were watching, the boys were picking on her and were about to beat her up.

_What?! She didn't do anything wrong!_ Naruto didn't understand. So he did the only thing he could. He stepped in.

In return for his heroic act Naruto got beat up, though he managed to land a good few hard punches. The girl was ushered away by another hyuuga clan member and the bullies ran off. For now. Naruto groaned as he felt a pulsing pain in his head when he attempted to sit up. Trying again he managed to use a nearby tree as support while he grabbed the tree vines to pull himself up to his full height.

Rustling up above snapped up his attention. He turned his gaze upwards and caught sight of a girl -wearing a white clothing- his age standing above on a branch of the tree he using for help. Watching him.

"Are you gonna make fun of me too?!" He yelled at her. " Go on then!Treat me like the outcast I am!"

The girl looked taken aback and instead reach out a hand. "No I don't mean to-"

"Just leave me alone! All of you!" Naruto couldn't disguise the fury and hurt in his voice, he also paid not attention to the hurt on the girls face.

"Leave you alone, eh? Now that wouldn't be very sensible of us, leaving someone alone who deserves to be knocked into tomorrow for punching our brothers and thus is "dangerous" four our village, and we must protect our village."

Naruto whipped around to face three very much newly appointed genin boys. None of them clan, but it seems strong enough to graduate. Fear flashed across Naruto's eyes but only for a second. He change his stance to defensive and spat in the lead boys face.

"Bring it!"

The genin wiped the saliva off his cheek. "Your gonna pay for that brat!" He roared, letting lose a sudden punch that sent Naruto sprawling to the floor. But the kid wasn't done. He started to kick Naruto in the stomach, no matter the attempts the boy made on standing back up again. His stamina was incredible to be able to keep moving like that.

"Had enough, kid?!" The bully wiped the blood of his sandal into the grass.

"I'm just getting started." Naruto smiled, his teeth stained red.

"Alright then, here it comes." Smirking, the genin gave Naruto an upper cut punch under his jaw, lifting the boy into the air, Kicked his stomach once more to maximize the pain, then drew back his fist for a fatal blow. Naruto clenched his eyes shut his he waited for it to connect.

Seconds passed.

Naruto cracked open his left eye, and he saw white and reddish-brown colour's in front of him.

* * *

Ren's grip on the genin's wrist tightened. If she had't intervened, she knew Naruto would be fatally wounded. And she was not just going to sit by and watch it happen.

"Thats enough," she hissed through clenched teeth. " Don't you dare harm another hair on his head. We are supposed to be looking out for each other in this village, not beating others to a pulp."

The genin was lost for words. One moment he was about to pound this boy into the next world, the next, he saw a flash of white, and his punch was restricted by a six year old girl! He spluttered for a second in shock. Then regained his balance, as they all landed on the ground, the girl supporting Naruto with her other arm. He felt nails dig into his forearm as she gave him an icy stare.

The genin seemed to remember who he was and ripped his arm from the girls grip, ignoring the pain. Glancing back at the girl, his eyes widened in shock.

"Hey! I know who you are! My dad told me you were adopted by the Fourth Hokage! Guess that means your parents are dead huh? Wait that also means your second parents are dead too!" The boy laughed evilly.

Ren was not amused.

"Until someone stops saying their name or talking about them, then that person is still alive." She said proudly. Kakashi always said she needed to cut down on the amount of older things that come out of that mouth of hers. She was too mature for her age, he said, always spewing such wise nonsense, he said. Ren smiled at the thought of Kakashi's reaction to this new one.

"Pfft, what a load of bull. You wouldn't think the fourth Hokage would be so stupid as to adopt a worthless retch like you."

"It's one thing to insult me. It's another thing to insult my family. I will give you one more chance." Ren said as she slowly reach behind her. Her fingers stroked smooth wood. Getting ready to fight, because for some reason she knew the genin wouldn't back down.

"Ooh I'm so scared, whatcha, gonna do, poke me with sticks."

Ren grinned. "Not exactly."

Her fingers gripped the smooth wood and she pulled her half-staffs into view. One in each hand. She had been training with them eight hours a day since she got them and they felt perfectly balanced in her hands now.

"Bring it." She chose to echo Naruto.

"HAHAHAHAHAHAHA-" His laughter was cut off after a flash of white and a severe,hard Jab to the stomach.

Ren side-stepped the second genin who was running towards her, jumped up in the air and brought both half-staffs down flat on his back using her momentum from jumping in the air to put a heavy impact into it, using gravity and her weight despite being quite slim.

No.2- Ren named them by numbers in her head- coughed blood and struggled to stand upright after the blow to his back.

Ren looked up just in time to see a punch swinging for her by a recovered No.1- No.3 seemed to be sitting at the side lines, probably there for morale support, afraid to get into the fray- She ducked, No.1 missed and Ren swept his feet out from under him using her straightened left leg by doing a sort of flat roundhouse kick to his shins.

The genin fell forwards, though tried to redeem himself by throwing out three quick punches, before he hit the ground. Ren managed to deflect two of them with her half-staffs and took the third to her stomach which growled in reply.

It was then that No.3 got stuck in. He leaped for the girl in white(Ren) kicking and punching. Ren blocked every one of them. Seriously, these genin were pretty pathetic. Their Jonin must not have given them their test yet, otherwise she was sure they wouldn't be here with those headbands on.

Then No.3 reach in their pouch and flicked three Kunai at her. Kunai!

"That's a bit extreme don't you think." Ren drawled as she used her half-staffs against her opponent. The kunai embedded themselves in the wood,damaging her defenses immensely. Concerned by the condition of her weapons, Ren didn't Notice No. 2 draw his own kunai.

"Look out!" Ren turned in the direction of the voice. Copyright:Naruto. Fortunately this warning gave Ren enough time to pinpoint the enemy and dodge out of the way. The kunai graze her cheek. Not too deep, but deep enough to draw a substantial amount of blood. Some dripped down her white top, staining it. Most of the red liquid covered her hands.

"Not so tough now, are you." No.2 smirked. Inside, Ren screamed at the pain. Outside it looked as if she was being bugged by an annoying fly. She ripped out the kunai from her half-staffs. Taking up her defensive stance again, she smeared her blood along her half-staffs, which absorbed it greedily.

_The wound was deeper than I thought it was...good._

She smiled politely while dipping her fingers in her wound, widening it,ignoring the raging pain and gathered her blood in her hands, smearing more of it along her damaged half-staffs.

One thought was running through all three of the genin and Naruto's head:

_This girl is mentally ill._

What they didn't see was her weapons gradually start to 'heal' as the slits closed up like some sort of medical jutsu was used on them. Yet the only thing healing those half-staffs was Ren's blood.**AN: you will find out more about this later.**

So when the girl came at the genin in a flurry of kicks,jabs and swings, they couldn't believe their eyes. Not only did the half-staffs look brand new, but they were not longer soaked in blood, and the girl had extensive knowledge in both taijustsu and kenjustsu (which I think include staffs is well, especially in the way Ren wields them)

She blocked there terribly timed punches with her half-staffs while delivering successful punches and kicking in vital areas such as the kidneys, and *cough* the boys 'treasured parts' *cough*.

At some point she even head-butted one on the forehead, which she found out was not the best idea, considering she was only six and these genin had very thick skulls.

Ren was getting rapidly tired and the genin still had energy to spare, not to mention the blood-loss she experienced. Ninjutsu was out of her league and she didn't have enough experience to use chakra, considering she doesn't know how.

Already she made three mistakes due to not being able to concentrate, costing her another encounter with the Kunai and some small strands of her hair(which she could care less about anyway).

Kakashi always warned her that with sloppiness came a price. Knocking them unconscious was the only way. _I mean it's not as if their going to get killed if I just leave them there, we are in Konoha for Kami's sake!_ Ren debated with herself while she continued to defend both her and the boy.

_Okay, deal with No.1 and No.2 first, they'll just get in the way when I go for No.3 who seems to be the strongest -surprisingly- and I need the extra space and time to defeat him._

_3.2.1...NOW!_

And with that thought Ren threw her Half-staffs with as much strength as she could muster, managing to add some of her chakra into them too, each one of her weapons hit No.1 and No.2 directly in the forehead, effectively knocking them out. Naruto who has been watching the whole fight, failed in resisting to laugh and chuckled to himself.

"That was the funniest thing I have seen! Two genin, taken out by sticks!" Naruto pounded the ground,unable to keep his laughter to himself. This affected Ren and she too couldn't help but giggle as she thought about it for a second. The scene did look quite idiotic, especially after all that cool fighting that was commencing before.

Once again Ren was distracted, but this time she didn't mind, especially if it was by the boy. However a kick the in the back in the knees is a sure way to get your opponent down to the ground and No.3 was trying to make Ren eat the dirt.

Literally.

He had his hand pressed firmly into the back of her head pushing her face down into the mud. Bringing his arm under her body he delivered several upward punches to her unprotected stomach, causing Ren to cough up blood.

She was in complete agony. _Damn my low pain threshold, I can barely move. I will not scream or beg. Don't cry. Don't gasp. Don't scream. Don't scream. Don't give in._ Ren kept repeating in her head as she received the beating of her life.

"Nobody messes with me or my friends!" She heard Dickwad growl through gritted teeth. _I got tired of calling him No.3 and Dickwad suits him so much more. And the other two. hmm... maybe Twig for no.2 and Thud for no.1, yeah he seems like a Thud..or Oof for that matter?_

_Yeah I was so wrong the first time. This guy isn't the morale support, he's the ring leader._

What he didn't know, and Ren for that matter, was that Naruto was sneaking up behind them.

WHACK!

A larger clanging noise radiated from the impact. Hit on the back of the head, Dickwad lost consciousnesses and fell limp onto Ren, who spluttered and started coughing and wheezing.

"Can't...breathe...get..him..off... me...please." _Never forget manners, number one rule in Minato's book, no matter how dire the situation._

"Oh right sorry." Naruto replied scratching the back of him head in embarrassment before he started pulling Dickwad off the six year old and dumping him beside her. Ren struggling to stand, spluttering blood down her chin. She was a mess, covered in dirt mixed with blood, though most was hers, she'd managed to wound the genin quite a bit.

Suddenly her legs gave out and she fell backwards, only to he caught by another pair of arms. Ren's forest green eyes looked up into Naruto's bright blue ones and she smiled. "Hey," she noticed. "You look right as rain, you sure do heal quick or something, don't you?" her words slurred.

Then Naruto gave her the biggest Ren she had ever seen. "Heh, I guess I do."

"Hmmm, I like rain. It's cool and refreshing. I wish it was raining now or something."

Delirious is what came to mind as Naruto continued to stare back at her.

Several silent moments passed as they both just looked at each others eyes and faces. Naruto still holding Ren by standing behind her with his arms hooked under hers and her feet trailing in the now muddy clearing.

"Thanks, ya know," Naruto scratched the back of his head again diverting his gaze. Ren almost found it cute." For uh..saving me back there. That was some sweet moves you pulled! And those sticks of yours! They're awesome." Ren winced in pain as Naruto jostled her in his arms in excitement.

"Whoops sorry." Then his face drained of colour as Ren saw realization eat away at his eyes.

"What?!" She demanded. The girl felt weak. "Whats wrong. " Her voice was nothing more than a croak.

"You're covered in blood." He told her straight. "You've got cuts all over you and this massive one on your cheek." _W__hich you made worse by sticking your fingers in it ,_he silently thought it wasn't a good idea to mention that part.

Ren flicked her hand. "Aah ..I'll be alright," she drawled. "your over-reacting or something, it's probably nothing." The girl was no stranger to blood, but she's never seen so much when she caught sigh of her reflection in Naruto's eyes.

"Oh."

And then something dawned on her. "Wait a sec, how did you knock out Dickwad, I heard a clang."

"Who?"

"The guy I was fighting with, in my head I called him dickwad, the skinny one 'Twig' and the other one 'Thud' or 'Oof', can't decide which."

"Good names, I thought he looked a bit like a dickwad."

"I know right!"Ren grinned. "So how about it.

"Oh, I used this!" Naruto pretty pleased with himself, pulled out something shiny.

"Where _the_ _fuck_ did you get a shovel from?!"

* * *

Since they established that the shovel was in a very camouflaged shack that had been there the whole time, Naruto thought it was a good idea to move there to get Ren cleaned up. Containing snacks, hot water,blankets and towels, the shack had everything they needed for now.

Naruto wiped away at the grime and blood from Ren's face with a hot-water soaked flannel, though, it took a long time because every time Ren winced in pain Naruto stopped, even though Ren insisted it didn't hurt.

He was most hesitant to clean out the wound on her cheek, but Ren said it need to be done otherwise it would get infected and she couldn't do it since she feels it near impossible to inflict pain on herself willingly due to her low pain threshold.

She had to bite down on a thick piece of cloth to keep herself from screaming out in pain. Naruto decided it was best not to tell her how deep the wound really was. It was definitely going to leave an ugly scar.

"No offense, but you not the best at cleaning cuts with care." Ren half-joked giving him a weak punch to the shoulder,

Naruto returned the hit, but more more delicately "Says the one who just got her ass kicked and in the end saved by me." The boy stuck his tongue out at her. "Ya know, I've never seen you around before."

"Weird I always see you. You're the kid that always pulls the pranks or something right? I saw you a couple days ago having an argument with a civilian when I was out with nee-san, you passed by but you didn't see me, since nee-san decided it was time for some "Obedience training"." Naruto frowned at the quotation marks Ren made with her fingers, but he didn't ask what they meant. He wanted to look smart. After all she was a girl. Who seems kind of pretty, has killer moves AND she's funny.

"you sure do say 'or something' a lot."

"And you don't say 'ya know' every two minutes, kiddo." Ren smiled. Naruto looked offended at the kiddo remark, but brushed it off.

"Everyones gotta have a catchphrase, ya know!" he grinned and they both laughed.

"So do you go to the ninja academy?"She suddenly asked him with a bright spark in her eyes.

"Yeah,why?"

"What's it like."

Naruto was oblivious to the dreamy look Ren conjured upon her face, thinking she was in awe of him, not the academy.

"Well, so far it's pretty boring, but we just started learning the transformation technique...

Ren listened through hours worth of information, her interest only rising, while Naruto was also taking in her appearance Long straight light brown hair with a hint of red, apart from her bangs which curved around her face. (exactly like Kushina's hairstyle when she first joined the academy)

Her eyes were mesmerizing. Naruto could stare into them and get lost in those green leaves, not knowing if days have passed. They were eerily familiar, but he pushed that thought out of his mind.

Unlike his though, she had sharp eyes, almost like they were constantly narrowed, which made him laugh when she actually narrowed them because she would look extremely angry and dangerous without intending to. Her face was also sharp, there was not soft edge to it whatsoever.

Again he was yet to find a girl he liked who was smaller than him. Ren was at least ten centimeters taller and she had a lithe build with long legs. He wondered if she trained, then dismissed the thought. She was the same age as him and yet not at the academy, meaning she was just an ordinary civilian, yet how did that explain those awesome moves he saw today and the weapons she's used, not to mention how she fought hard not to scream out in pain.

He was about to ask her that very question when he noticed a very notable feature on her face: plasters.

One long horizontal rectangular plaster under each eye, with only about half a centimeter of skin between the plaster and the lower eyelid. This intrigued him. And he was ready to ask a question about the plasters when Ren spoke first.

"I'm entering the academy next week. We'll be in the same class or something I think! won't that be cool!" She burst out.

His mind wiped clear at her statement and then commenced to leap up and fist-pump the air

"That is so awesome!" He was finally going to have someone to talk to in class. No more kids picking on him for being who he was, he now had someone who liked who he was. Beeping interrupted his thoughts.

Ren stared in annoyance at the digital watch clasped around her wrist.

"Stupid nee-san, always ruining everything," she grumbled before realizing Kakashi had said the same about her not too long ago .

"Sorry I've got to go, thanks for the help." She said as she started to climb out the window .Naruto had barricaded the door in case the bullies woke up and found the shack, and Ren really didn't have enough strength, or blood for that matter to move the items out of the way.

"H-hey! Wait" Naruto cried. He stared at the back of the girl. He didn't noticed her light brown leather straps around her back and chest, forming and X shape on her front and back. Two loop holes originate at the center of the X on the back where Ren had stuck her half-staffs,which also followed the shape of an X on her back in the same fashion the leather straps did. However from the front view you could see parts of the half-staffs sticking out over her shoulders and out the side of her hips.

Ren looked back, crouched in the window sill at the boy with the big blue eyes and intriguing whisker marks on his cheeks.

"Who are you?" He asked, hoping for a name.

Ren smiled with her eyes close.

"I'm your friend...or something"

Then she was gone.

* * *

"Gotta get home or nii-san's gonna get annoyed and he'll give my dinner to pakkun." Ren told her self to motivate her legs to run faster through the patch of trees and undergrowth. _That dog is fat enough already._ Leaves,twigs and thin branches were whipping her in the face but she didn't care. She was ecstatic!

She had made her first friend. Well yeah...all the civilians knew her and were nice to her, and a lot of ninja too, they had all taken a liking to her, especially since she was kind of the fourth hokage's daughter and tended to share a lot of his personality traits. And of course Kakashi -who was also quite popular- was her guardian/brother.

Stinging like someone had sprayed lemon juice into her wounds Ren scrub harshly at her face with her hands, still running, trying to wipe away whatever it was was making her face hurt. She felt a slight bit of a pain under her left eye and the stinging subsided. It must have been a sort of acidic liquid on the leaves.

She finally got out onto the street where no one was paying much attention to her, they were all used to seeing her run home covered in dirt, probably after a self-training session out in the wooded area. No one that is except for a certain shadow in her life.

Ren huffed, and wheezed when she allowed herself to break. She was going through oxygen debt after doing anaerobic exercise. Taking an alley route as a shortcut was the right idea considering her current state. Already half-way through the way she felt someone breathe on the back of her neck.

It was only when someone grabbed her arm and twisted it painfully behind her back did she immediately stopped breathing.

A mans face. Inches away from her own stared down at her in glee. But Ren knew it wasn't the good kind of glee.

The ninja -since he had a leaf headband- ripped off the plaster under her right eye, and it was only then did Ren's fear really take form. Her other plaster. She must have scrubbed it off! how could she be so stupid!

Seeing those markings under her eyes made the ninjas smile stretch even wider and she heard him speak before she was knocked out.

"I found you, little Okami."

* * *

**DUN DUN DUNNNNN**

**8000 of those words took me the whole of this morning from 1 in the morning till 7. flipping heck I did't realise it would be more than 10 flippin thousand words!**

**anyway, no she is not a mary-sue: **

**1. she practically got beat up. **

**2. those genin were non clan and just scraped by the exams and yes they later on fail the test their jonin gives them because they are seriously weak. **

**3. She has been training for 8 hours EVERYDAY! for the past 2 weeks and **

**4. she has flippin kakashi as her guardian, of course he's gonna teach her a few moves! and last of all **

**5. now the amount of chakra she has. Naruto has four times more chakra than jiraiya at age 12 and that was his own chakra, not the kyuubis. So the fact that Ren has loads too is not big shocker considering she's from two great clans, don;t worry Naruto's is still far greater than hers, though hers is defitnitly much larger than sasuke's and will be about 2 and a half times greater than Jiraiya's when she's twelve..**

**oh yeah, everyone know minato adopted her and whatnot, after all her registered sir name is Namikaze. **

**Also i own the Okami clan and everything about them. Also i Own Renata/Ren Namikaze/Okami. and those Half-staffs**

**(chapte****rs are probably not gonna be this long, though i will make sure they are at least 5000 words each :)**

**Also if you are confused with what's happening and have quite a few answers, (hell i know i would be if i didn't know everything) then feel free to ask questions and I'll answer them as best as i can. If you don't understand the whole time travel thing then you don't need to. he just did it, end of. :)**

******Okami out~**


	3. Chapter 3 : Return Home

**Okay finally! They are all twelve years old now now and the start of this takes place two months before everyone graduates from the academy. By the way, i will be switching between first person and Third person throughout the story to show others views and thoughts on things too. Don't worry it won't be random swappings where you have to guess if whether it's in first person anymore, because i will only change it after these lines:**

* * *

**that type of line there ^ sometimes it will signify like a different place or time, sometimes it will signify a change between first person and third person and others it will signify both. Oh yeah, first person is ALWAYS Ren**

**I don't own Naruto, but I do own the Okami clan and everything about them and Renata/Ren Namikaze/Okami**

* * *

Chapter 3 : Return Home

* * *

Silhouetted against the pitch-black sky Konoha was abuzz with life. You could clearly make out the tall buildings-even from a good three miles away in the forest where I currently stand- including the hokage tower and the light radiating off them like a display was commencing. Still eight o'clock at night wasn't particularly late.

"Home."

Standing there on the branch of a tall tree with my left hand clutching the bark to steady myself, in my beloved Land of Fire, with Konohagakure in almost reaching distance, I couldn't help but stretch out my arm and grab at the air as if I could hold the village in my palm, before bringing my closed fist to my chest.

"Six...years, that's all it took for me to make it back to you, Konoha." I said coldly, thoughts swimming in my head of pain and the ever crashing wave of water. I shivered at the thought.

Reaching inside the kunai holster strapped to my thigh, I flicked it open. It concealed both mu Kunai and my Pocky sticks box. I was pretty lucky my kunai holster was a perfect fit for both of them, meaning I wouldn't get annoyed with my feeling my kunai jostling as I ran and that I could feed my addiction.

Just thinking about those chocolate-coated biscuit sticks made my mouth water.

I pulled one out and rested the chocolate covered end in my mouth, which would continue to stay there, much like Genma and his senbon until I decided it was time to munch and crunch.

After sucking off all the chocolate I finally consumed the Pocky stick. Realizing I've had my mask down this whole time, I hastily raised it up to just below my eyes, shielding my plasters from sight also.

"Time to go." I whispered to myself. Pushing off the branch I gained enough power to propel my body a few meters before needing to repeat the step. Standard ninja travel.

I like trees.

They offer comfort, safety and shelter. I've missed them, especially as to where I've been living for the past six years, honestly when I left five days ago, after travelling for three days, Do you know what I did when I saw the first tree in the land of fire? I ran up to it and hugged around the trunk crying my eyes out in happiness. Yeah, pretty pathetic, trust me, I know.

Close. I'm so close. I can almost taste the music and fantastic foods on my tongue. I hadn't even noticed the rain starting to pour down, but I couldn't care less. This was just too important.

Then the rain started getting to me. I quickly reach behind my back and pulled on my hood that was concealed inside my flak jacket. Hastily, I wiped away at the water on my face, unnecessarily breathing rapidly and heavily.

And now I'm suddenly standing on the tree closest as possible to the Gates. It took me a few minutes to find that I was holding my breath. Peering around the trunk, my green eyes spotted two very familiar chunin, 'guarding' the gates. Well they were supposed to be guarding...instead they were having a very bromance-like conversation.

My heart lurched in pain, and salty tears trailed their way into my mouth. So many familiar scents. So many memories and good times. That had been taken away from me. I stamp my foot in anger and clench my teeth._ I was owed a childhood! I had everything taken away from me. But now...maybe, just maybe it will be like before. Everything will go back to what it was..._

"Who am I kidding?!" I slapped myself in the face. "I was living a lie, a cushioned life, I couldn't know of Reality even if it bit me on the nose!" I snarled, shocked at the menace in my voice.

_But now I do, I know the harshness of life, the pain horrors and anguish. NOTHING will be the same again. EVERYTHING has changed._

And with that thought, I slipped down to the ground and approached my home.

* * *

Kotetsu and Izumo looked up, startled by a sudden noise outside the gate. Their eyes travelled along the path until they found someone in white walking towards them.

"Who goes there?!" Kotetsu called into the shadows, immediately adopting a defensive stance while Izumo tensed, ready to send for reinforcements if needed.

The person stepped into the light. She stood at 151 cm and was quite lean in build. Her hair was the exact same style of a certain blonde-haired Kumo Jinchuriki (Yugito Nii) excluding of course the bangs that framed her face were also tightly wrapped in bandages with each having a tuff's of hair poking out. Hair that was medium brown with a hint of red.

The girl wore white Joggy-bottoms which were just below knee-length, which had a long red marking on the outside of each leg. Her Kunai Sandals were white and she wore the regulation Kumo nin shin-guards and finger less gloves. She wore a white simple flak-jacket that was belly-button length, and underneath a tight light jade-green t-shirt.

The chunin could see two brown leather straps, one starting at each side of her hips and diagonally looping over her shoulders in an X fashion under the flax jacket. Slits had been cut in the flak jacket where two red sword hilts poked out from her the top of her shoulder blades. An extra slit that was in between the other two also had a red handle poking out of it. The flak jacket was only half-zipped up too.

But what caught their attention most was the Kumo forehead protected on a white bandanna Beeping sounded from a very dark green wrist watch, in which the girl pressed a button to shut it off.

The girl spoke under a navy blue cloth-mask.

"Take me to the Hokage." She was done with playing nice, has been for about three years now.

* * *

Kotetsu and Izumo bounded the twelve-year old's hands with strong rope, in case she tried anything, after all she was a stranger, they couldn't endanger the village or the Hokage, there have been known to be children younger than twelve and yet at jonin-level.

Including the fact she refused to talk until they took her to the leader of their village.

Willingly the girl walked with them through the streets, Izumo leading the way while Kotetsu kept hold over her being the stronger of the two. Before they had left their replacements had shown up, so if was safe for them to abandon their posts.

The girl ducked her head away from the civilians and ninjas walking passed, as they each stopped to whisper something to their companion casting wary eyes in her direction.

After the 'walk of shame' the chunin led the kunoichi up into the Hokage tower. When they reached the door to the office Kotetsu knelt down to her height.

"Now remember, only speak when spoken to and no funny business." The chunin warned with a wag of his forefinger.

"Of course not." The genin scowled.

Izumo nodded and proceeded to knock on the Hokage's door. There was a loud shuffling noise heard from inside before they were answered with a "Come in!"

The door creaked open to reveal the Third sitting at his desk. Papers were sprawled across the top in a last ditch effort to conceal an orange covered book. Unfortunately it was still visible.

"Who do we have here?" The Hokage inquired. His eyes sought out the girls face and registered the Kumo nin forehead protector.

"We were hoping she would tell us once you spoke to her, sir."Kotetsu replied.

"Leave us." Sarutobi waved them away. He wasn't stupid as to think the girl wasn't dangerous, after all he did have four ANBU in the room, just not visible to the naked eye.

Once the door closed behind the chunin, the girl looked up and fixed the hokage with an icy stare. Well he thought it was an icy stare. What the girl really was trying to do was to show his innocent eyes. But unfortunately due to her naturally narrowed eyes and what she's been through these past 6 years all she good do so far was give a cold look.

"So...what is you purpose here in Konoha?"

"To return home."

The hokage looked confused. "Where?"

"Konoha." Sarutobi noticed the girl had a strong controlled voice. Quite grown up for her age, not like the high pitched noises girls like Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka would spew. (her voice is kinda in the same league as Temari's)

"And just who are you; I'm sure someone from Konoha would not be wearing a Kumogakure headband."

"I'm a kunoichi of Kumo after training for the past year, but before that I was a Konohagakure civilian, about to be entered in the academy. My name is Renata Namikaze and this time, i wish to stay in this village."

There was a low thump noise as the pipe literally dropped from Hiruzen Sarutobi's mouth in utter shock. The third spluttered as he sought for words.

"You-can't be, it's clear you are an intruder...Renata Namikaze was presumed dead six years ago."

The girl noticeably flinched at his last statement. _Dead? They thought I was dead? _"Sir, I assure you I am who I just said."

"Well then take off you mask and prove it. You do realize it is great disrespect to wear a mask in front of me while I'm talking to you."

_pfft yeah right, you let nii-san do it all the time _she thought, but then again she was an enemy ninja. She couldn't help but hesitate as she reached up with one finger and lightly pulled down her mask, resting it around her neck. The genin felt strangely naked.

"Well I see your informed as to who you are to be posing as." The hokage mentioned, getting up from his chair as he made his move towards her, still believing his theory of her impersonation someone from this village. Sarutobi traced the plasters on her cheeks.

Then suddenly he ripped them off.

The girl didn't budge, expecting it meant she could prepare herself from the pain, those plasters were held in place by a special substance meant to endure almost anything. The act nearly tore her skin off. Luckily for her she had worn these for a while, meaning they were already starting to wear off.

"hmm...paint I presume?" he questioned as he licked his thumb and wiped away the eye markings. Well...tried to. The Hokage's growing frustration was somewhat amusing to the Kumo nin as he furiously tried to erase the dark dots.

"Permanent marker then?" he was growing desperate now. Surely this girl couldn't e who she said she was. He could tell it wasn't a transformation technique and the girl did fit the persona. Same colour hair, unusual forest green eyes, similar build and tall for her age. Not to mention her consistently narrowed eyes.

The Third could also feel a large amount of chakra radiating from the girl. A familiar chakra.

"Here." The girl offered her arm and held out a syringe with the other one. "Take a blood sample and I assure you it matches that of Renata Namikaze's or my parents if you don't have any of my DNA."

"Fine!" The Hokage snapped. He was losing his patience. He jabbed the needle in her arm. Harshly. The girl winced. _Serves her right...trying to fool the Hokage._He thought.

Once finished, he tossed the syringe to a hidden ANBU. "Take this to the medics, I want this done with as quickly as possible!" he ordered.

"Hai!" Came a voice from nowhere.

"Could I please sit down, I have travelled far." The hokage literally threw a chair at her. She caught it before the wooden furniture had connected with her face and placed it on the floor before settling herself down.

Several moments past.

"Do you want to ask me questions...or...?"She trailed off, unsure of what to do.

"Alright then...who was your guardian?"

"Nii-san, I mean Kakashi Hatake."

"What did Kakashi give you for your birthday?"

"My half-staffs, which father made for me when I was two months old...I don't know what happened to them though."

"Okay this is only a few select people know, what was so special about Renata Namikaze?"

The girl hesitated first. _Should I tell him what else i found out? No. It's better to keep concealed._

"I could remember everything since I was born, so vividly, for example I remember when father -because mother was too busy being pregnant and all- would take me to work, often in a baby-carrier connected around his torso. I remember he would joke about it a lot, but he was always smiling. I remember when despite his calm personality, whenever he stubbed his toe or banged his head he would swear continuously until the pain subsided. The only time he would swear was then." _Something I seem to have inherited._

"The other special thing about me is that I'm a strong carrier of a special chakra or kekkai genkai, which actually affects the nature and colour of my normal chakra, turning it a yellowy-gold colour and giving it light-like properties. I've also discovered recently what type of nature release I have, which was the common release trait in the Okami clan that Minato would often talk about."

The girl was out of breath, while once again the Hokage dropped his pipe.

"Sir?"

"Ahh!" the hokage leaped out of his chair. With his full attention on the Kumo nin he had not notice the ANBU's return. He ordered for them to be quick, but not _that_ fast!

"The results, lord Hokage." The Anbu dismissed himself after handing the Third a small scroll. The Hokage grumled something about young ninja's and their interruptions when he proceeded to open it. Unclasping the latch his eyes scrolled down as the information settled in.

His hand started shaking, and if he had picked up his pipe, once more it would have fallen. His gaze met that of the narrowed eyes of the Okami girl.

"Ren...h-how?" Was all he cold manage. After all these years of searching and mourning their loss, it was Renata who found them. The Hokage had blamed himself, thinking he had failed the Fourth and Kushina.

Ren smiled. Something she didn't do very often these days. "I'm glad you remember! I always knew I could count on you not to call me by my full name."

It took a lot of persuasion and a few hours for the Hokage to get over his shock and to greet Ren, telling her of how they searched for two years before giving up. Her Half-staffs had apparently been found at the scene and Kakashi carried them with him always. Ren couldn't help but shed a few tears of joy at the thought that Kakashi still thought of her, and couldn't wait to see him again.

"I'm sorry Ren but Jonin Hatake won't be back until the day after the genin exams, two months from now."

Ren's heart plummeted like a stone.

Then something sprung to mind. "You know sir, am i not a genin of Konoha now?!" Ren asked eagerly, after all, she passed the Kumo test three weeks ago.

"Hm..."Sarutobi scratched his chin. "Well you are a genin of Kumo -which we will discuss later about, mind- but that is Kumo and this is Konoha, besides the Kumo test is different to ours, and we have only two months to go until the genin exam, which means you will have time to get well acquainted with your future fellow genin if you join the academy now and you will get a squad...this would greatly benefit you and also prove your loyalty to this village...however I'm not sure how the council members would agree,they would most likely want to keep you under guard for the rest of your life, and to not become a genin."

_Go through becoming genin again? Well it couldn't hurt...hell I probably just allied both Kumo and Konoha...actually maybe not considering I ran away,lets just not worry about that for now_. Ren thought to herself before turning to Hiruzen.

"Oh I'm sure they'll agree."

* * *

I couldn't help but squeal with excitement when the Hokage left to go talk with the council. Finally I was going to enter the academy.

In Kumo I wasn't allowed to because it was too late and they didn't want someone who needed catching up, so Yugito sensei trained me for the exams anyway, which I didn't find out why until the day after I passed. The exam for me was a one-on-one sword fight with a chunin,who judged how well I did. Apparently I was a natural. Must be something in my blood.

Killer B, being a good friend of Yugito's was dragged into helping me too, even though he insisted that he didn't want to and that he had his own team. But in the end he's where I learned to use Kenjutsu properly, he even gave me my own three swords,which he said I would grow into.

Now I'm sitting,waiting for the Hokage to come back, but I already know what the answer is going to be. How could the council refuse the proposition I offered? Letting me enroll in the academy and to be treated like any other genin of Konoha in return for information of what happened to me the past six years. There was also another catch. I wouldn't tell them until I became a chunin.

Ah how good it is to have some authority over those two wretched council members, Homura and Koharu.

The door creaked open to reveal The Third to have finished with his meeting. I turn my head to see he had something shiny in his right hand.

"Ren, the council agreed with your proposition, though i have to say I do not approve of you withholding information like this I agree that that was the only way for you to become a ninja. With Jonin Hatake away and the fact that you are now a Genin and are responsible for yourself, I have bought you a small apartment put onto Kakashi's bill - I'm sure he won't mind- which you will pay rent for."

"I'll be sure to thank Nee-san." I said with a smirk. "Wait-how Hokage-sama, how am I supposed to pay rent?"Confusion centered my brain.

"Well...you are a genin, just not a Konoha one yet, so I will allow you to do D-rank missions inside Konoha. Meet me here at eight o'clock in the morning, we need to register you for the academy which starts at ten to nine and inform you of your first D-rank mission for after your lessons." Sarutobi smiled somehow knowing that's exactly what I wanted to hear. Brilliant! I was itching to explore every last inch of Konoha, to meet the people again, to just enjoy being Home. Home. I couldn't get enough of that word as a warm feeling washed over me.

"I guess that's it, huh?" I asked.

"Well normally this would have taken much longer but with your refusal to tell us anything...it's best that you are to...to put it simply, carry on as you were before..." The Hokage scratched his head. I'm guessing this whole ordeal was like a dream to him, it just hasn't registered fully yet. It hasn't to me either. This was really happening...after _six_ years!

Giddy with excitement I excused myself turned towards the exit.

"Hold on." I turned to find the Hokage holding something out to me.

"Wouldn't to forget these, now would we?" He smirked.

Keys. Of course. Can't open my new apartment without keys.

* * *

Ren walked along the wooden planks creating the walkway for three apartments. She looked down over the side. It was a long way down. But she was on the top floor so she couldn't expect anything less. Glancing at the number on her keys she frowned. No 3.

_Heh__, my lucky number ,_she tapped each of the sword hilts on her back.

Ren remembered B telling her to make them easily accessible during anytime, hence the reason for the slits in her Flak Jacket. She also has another opening in the middle of the back of her jacket. Sometimes she would put the loops on the leather straps through that opening so her weapons were on the outside of her jacket not inside, to make them even more accessible.

If she put the straps on her jacket instead of her top it would make things too uncomfortable and would restrict her moments.

The only reason she had them under her jacket was because for some reason, having the weapons right against her back made her feel safer and more sure of herself. They were like a confidence boost.

Number 3 was at the end, which was quite cool because there was this part of the walkway that just went off on a tangent and stuck out, like someone had built a small bridge-path thingies but it all fell down apart from the first three meters. Seems for safety reasons they put a railing along it too. She decided that would be one of her outdoor thinking spots.

"It also had a great view", she noted.

no.1 being at the other end, the end she's walked up the stairs to get to. It seemed 1 was unoccupied,but from the noise coming from No.2 Ren's suspicions rose of a very loud owner. Great, just great.

She shoved in her keys and turned the lock. Satisfied upon hearing a click, she pushed open the door to find a clean ordinary apartment.

She whistled as she walked into the middle of the room. "This will do nicely, a house all to myself."

After checking out the kitchen and bathroom, the Kumo nin smiled when she spotted a comfy looking bed. In Kumo she had to stay at Yugito's house and because Yugito was pretty hardcore, they slept on camping mat's, apparently it makes you tougher, but really all it does is give you back ache.

Thankfully there was a particularly large window on the wall beside the bed, so I could wake up to the sunlight every morning. How thoughtful.

Noticing the folded pajamas on the bed, the genin smiled.

"It seems Hokage-sama thought of everything."

Then she thought back to the empty fridge.

"Well...almost everything."

There was another door she hadn't noticed before, a room opposite her bed. she creaked it open and was happy to find a training room, small but very useful. The empty shelves and desk told her that at some point she would half to buy some scrolls,shuriken and kunai knives - she only had the one-.

She got changed into her pajamas and with a smile noticed they were white with the same red markings, and liker her flak jacket, had the Uzumaki symbol in light green on her back surround by a ring of red.

Setting her watch to go off at seven o'clock, the Kumo nin climbed into bed. She was too tired to have a bath, and to be honest...she didn't want to. It's not because she was dirty or anything. She just hated water...to be fair it was more than that. She's have to get a shower head installed, that would much better.

_In the morning I'll wash in the sink_, Ren decided.

Ren looked up at the wall her bed rested against, and inwardly swore. There was a small window above in the wall just below the ceiling that separated her apartment from No.2's.

"Oh brilliant." she spoke to herself sarcastically. "Now not only is my neighbor loud, but I will be able to hear him very easily, thanks Hokage-sama. I really owe you one."

Fortunately the light from the other apartment flickered out. The occupant seemed to also want to sleep.

Ren shuffled under the covers and closed her eyes to feel unconsciousness washing over her. It was a good thing she's set those traps in her apartment,just in case someone tried something, it made her feel safe and sleep come easy.

* * *

_I opened my mouth to yell but nothing came out. Waves of water crashed over my head as I tried to stay a float, but unable to. My legs were bound tightly leaving my arms thrashing around, trying desperately to swim, but unfortunately I did not know how._

_At the same time more water was being added, someone throwing a huge bucket of it over my head, meaning the sea-level was rising. Before my feet were touching the ground and I could just poke my head out of the water to breath._

_But now?_

_My lungs were bursting with pain as I swallowed more and more water. It continued to rain water and I could no longer feel the floor. Terror seized my body and I frantically tried to find a way out, a ledge even, scrabbling at the walls. But there was nothing._

_Just pain and fear. And this time, there was no rope attached to me, to pull me out at the very last second, no second chance. Water filled my mouth and i screamed. No one heard . How could they when i was under water? Yet even if they did, they would not pull me out. This is the consequence for nearly everything i do._

_Drowning. I was drowning. My hair, undone whipped around my face like seaweed. I glanced at my hands and then the rope that bound my legs and hastily tried to undo them. I was running out of oxygen, if I had any chance of surviving I needed my legs free. Pain whipped across all parts of my body, screaming for air._

_Yes! The rope came loose and I kicked out my legs. I didn't know how to swim but this was a start, and hopefully would get me high enough to breath air. But my hope was slowly fading, by the bucketful as new water was continuously added. I have to try! I felt the water rush passed me as I gradually got higher and higher._

_I was going to make it!_

_Something grabbed hold of my right foot, and I struggled to hold my breath. Looking down and I saw a snake coiled around my ankle and in the dark abyss further down, two yellow snake-like eyes looked back at me and words echoed in my brain._

_"Going somewhere?"_

I woke up screaming and covered in sweat, my hair sticking to my face. My whole body was shaking and it took deep,calm breathing to steady my hands. I looked to the situation at hand. I had these nightmares often, and they always involve me drowning. I tended to scream throughout the night when I did. Sometimes my captors would appear in them. But there was something wrong. I always woke up the second before I was about to die, yet that dream wasn't finished, I'm sure of it.

So what woke me up?

A clang somewhere in my apartment answered me.

So. Someone did try to sneak in. I bet they weren't expecting the trap that laid in wait. I slid cautiously from my bed and pulled on my leather straps,with weapons in tow. Pulling up my mask and taking my favourite blade, Ōshokudo -Yes I named my swords, deal with it- from the middle of my back.

One of the many things I loved about this sword was that you could wield it easily in both hands, though my other two are more suited to each hand.

With Ōshokudo in my hands I felt safer already and tip-toed across to the middle of the room . My eyes widened as much as they could, damn my stupid genes, to try to see in the dark. It was just a simple trap,really, but it was effective.

I had set three trip-wires in case the first two didn't work. Something was hanging on a wire from the ceiling. A frying pan. My brand new frying pan that now has a face print in it. And looking down from the frying pan my eyes glared at a lump of orange clothing with spiky-blonde hair.

Shuffling closer I raised my sword with one hand for safety measure while I used the other hand to grabbed a handful of the scruffy hair and yank it up in one quick motion. And immediately dropped it back down again, the kids face smacking against the floor earning me a groan.

I know this kid. At least I think I do, with the necklace on remembering things was harder than it used to, the only reason Minato was so clear in my mind was because I only started wearing the necklace around my neck the day before I was captured.

But those whisker marks.

I'm positive it's him, no other kid I know has the same markings.

Groaning brought me back to reality as the boy sat up and rubbed his face, a bruise already starting to form.

"What was that for?" he whined, not registering the situation he was in. He finally opened his eyes to see me, ready for battle.

I think I made him wet his pants. Lovely, now I'm going to have a stain in my new apartment.

A closer inspection showed no dark marks around his *cough* area.

"Gah!" he yelled, leaning away and shielding himself with his arms. Too bad I wasn't backing away. I stalked over dangerously to him, squatted down to his level,since he was still sitting on his butt, and whispered in his ear.

"Get out." I hissed.

Fear showed in his eyes but then he stood up to his full height, and to be honest, his confidence nearly knocked me over. There was too much of it.

"This apartments supposed to be empty, ya know!" He said. Actually to me he was shouting it. What a loudmouth.

"Then what are you doing here." I retorted, voice as icy as ever.

Seriously, I can't help it. It's a wonder how I managed to keep the coldness out of my voice while talking to the Hokage. I used to be cheery all the time when I lived in Konoha, I only discovered my scary side when I left after being surrounded by so many dangerous and viscous people, and now it seems I can't seem to keep the dangerous tone out of my voice. I betcha if I tried to be polite, people would probably think I'm challenging them.

Thats what happens when you're brought up by people who talk like that constantly around you, I guess. And when you've been tortured.

That didn't seem to phase him. "I heard screaming. Which means someone was in danger. And I was right!"

He pointed at me. and I internally hit myself in the head. The window! Of course! He would have heard me during my nightmare, and must have woken up and picked my lock.

I looked at him again.

"So. You're my noisy neighbor." I said quietly but in my icy tone. Oh well, people are just going to have to deal with the way I speak, too late to change it now.

He seemed not to have heard me. " You're hurting someone with that sword aren't you?I bet your a burglar! I knew it! Believe it!."

"Way to jump to conclusions." I slid Ōshokudo back in it's leather holder and folded my arms, staring at him. He probably took it as a glare because of my stupid eyes.

"You must be a burglar, otherwise why would you be wearing a mask?!"

"To hide my identity." I said simply(**A/N keep in mind of her ever present icy tone, even if I don't mention it) **as if it was the most obvious answer.

"Exactly! Burglars hide their identity." Oh I forgot about that part too. I was growing tired of this game.

"Are you going shut up or am I going to have to knock-you out?" I drawled.

The twelve-year old took up a stance.

"There's no way I'm gonna let a burglar get the best of me. Believe it!" He yelled raising his fists. This kid was giving me a headache. I yawned, and kept glancing backwards at the door to my bedroom.

"Look. I'm not a burglar. Can you see anyone else in this apartment? No. Now will you please-"

"AAAAAAAAAAH!" His war cry rattle in my ears just before I felt the wind get knocked out of me as we both fell to the ground.

I was not prepared for that.

I felt his weight on my hips as he drew back a fist. Narrowing my eyes even more I reached upwards with my right hand and grabbed at the air. A few more grabs. There got it.

Then with my left hand I stopped the boys punch. Well look at that. Seems I'm stronger than him. His face turned to shock, but not before I hit him in the face with the frying pan I had yanked down with my other hand.

CLANG

For a moment there I thought he was going to carry on but then he stopped vibrating from the hit and fell on me. Knocked out cold. Some drool escaped his mouth and marked my t-shirt. Lovely. What a nice house-warming gift.

I rolled him off me and took a few minutes just lying their, breathing deeply and covered in sweat. Yep...I am definitely washing myself now.

Okay, straight after I get this orange knucklehead back into his own apartment. I'm guessing he left his own unlocked. Pulling myself into a standing position I eyed him warily. Maybe I should give him a good kick in the head in case he wakes up too soon.

I tried to ignore the enjoyment as I booted his skull.

"That should do it."

sliding my arms under his armpits, i lifted him up with his feet trailing along the floor. I had a sense of Déjà vu when his head rolled back. Huh. Just like that time all those years ago, except we were both conscious and it seems one of us has gotten dimmer within that time apart.

Dragging him was proving to be easier than I thought. He looked heavy due to the bulge of his jumpsuit around his belly, but it must just be baggy, a bit like my tracksuit bottoms(**A/N: they are basically like the standard uniform bottoms, like Killer B's and Kakashi's but white, I'm just gonna call them trackie's, because Thats what we call them in Britain, not pants, to us pants are knickers and boxers and whatnot)**

**I'**walked out my door backwards with my new 'friend' in tow. It was quite nice weather outside, but when I looked down over the railings the few people who were still out late at night were wearing jumpers and shivering.

Maybe there was an advantage to be continually drenched in freezing cold water.

I kicked upon No.2's door and we entered his home. And the first thought that came to mind was what a dump it was. Second thought was that it was the exact same structure as mine, but like a mirror reflection, meaning the the miniature window also hovered high above his bed.

"What a great opportunity to get to know each other." I grumbled sarcastically.

Ramen cups were littered all over the floor, dirty clothes hung off of chains and mingled with the cups. Flies buzzed around the sink filled with food-covered dishes. Off milk was spilled on the table and there was a sour smell in the air.

When you've lived for as long as two years, as I have in a dump worse than this, two things happen.

1. You get used to it. This gives you a tolerance to truly disgusting situations.

2. You learn to appreciate even mildly clean places, and make an effort to sustain this cleanliness.

So when you see that someone has the choice whether to live in a pigsty or not, and chooses the pigsty, you tend to get a little bit annoyed. Especially with all this once good quality furniture.

I gave him a black-eye for that. He didn't seem to mind.

Then something stopped me before i put him back into his bad.

"Do you really go to sleep in this thing?" I asked the rhetorical question indicating to the orange jumpsuit. Then I that he was wearing something underneath.

So. He must have heard my screams, jumped out of bed and put his jumpsuit on over his pajamas. And now I have to strip him.

I sighed in exasperation.

With his jumpsuit now unzipped i ripped the top half off in one swift movement and shimmied his trackies off. The whole thing took about a second.

"If I get any better at this, I probably become a world-famous stripper," I snickered to myself. "But then again, why would I give up the life of danger, blood, and eternal grief of a ninja?"

Several seconds later, the boy was lying in his own bed under his stained quilt. I would have tucked him in, but that wouldn't seem like something he would do himself and would probably wind up confused in the morning, so i practically threw the quilt on him, proud of how I managed to replicate his messy life-style.

And now back to bed.

* * *

I woke in the morning to the sound of birds chirping outside. Checking my watch I found it was six o'clock. The birds must have woken me up. I've always been an incredibly light sleeper. The smallest of sounds often woke me from my slumber. This is due to being ridiculously tense, all the time. I mean every ninja is alert, but I'm high above that. I tend to jump at every tiny sound when it is silent.

Which is a bummer because it means I don't sleep properly,my shoulders hurt from the continuous tensing, and due to my alertness I wake up much earlier than I wanted to, adding to my tiredness. Even if I did get my eight hours sleep, it still wouldn't be enough because I'm so acutely aware of my surroundings I don't sleep properly, It's like only one side of my brain shuts down while the other half is still awake.

Which means I'm yawning more than a Nara.

A sour smell caught in my nose made it twitch. Right, I forgot to have a bath, and I'm still covered in sweat. Not to mention it's pretty warm today. Stretching, I slithered out of bed, not bothering to walked properly as I hobbled to the bathroom. I filled the bath only a third full with cold water, before very cautiously -and after changing out of my clothes obviously- dipping my toe in, to check if it was safe.

When i felt the bottom of the bath I released a sigh of relief;i didn't realize I was holding my breath. It took me a full ten minutes to settle in the bath, my arms hugged my knees to my chest while i breathed deeply.

"It's okay,It's okay." I told myself, repeating it over and over again while I reached out for a sponge and began washing myself, careful not to pour too much water on me at once. I even managed to shampoo my hair, noticing i still had time left. That was the easiest part of my body for my to drench in water.

Glanced at my digital watch: 7:10.

Wow, I've really improved at the rate I've washed myself. It used to take hours for me to finish washing, just fear of drowning made me very reluctant and too careful. I've only been too a Hot-spring once.

I took one look at it and ran away with a second glance.

By the time I toweled off my hair, combed through all the knots and gotten changed along with my leather straps and blades -which I'm wearing on the inside of my flak jacket today- , I still had twenty minutes to spare. So I applied my super sticky plasters, and pulled up my mask before moving onto my hair.

It's not like I'm copying Yugito's hairstyle -Okay I kinda am- It's just we both have a very similar hair-shape and her method of keeping it out the way is handy. But unlike her I also wrap my bangs in a sort of bandage-plait. I took out my bandages from my pocket, twisted my hair in one hand to make it thinner and pulled on the bandages with my teeth.

With my hand holding the bandage roll, I managed to wrap it round the majority of my straight hair,while leaving the last five inches of my hair free. My hair was pretty damn long and The bandages didn't start too close to the base of my hair like Yugito's did,so my hair bunched out a bit around my head and covered up my ears from the side.

This meant unlike Yugito my bangs were free(due to not being long enough to be kept in by the bandage), so I bandaged them in a similar manner

I just really didn't like my ears exposed, too many memories of water getting sucked in. I wanted to shield them from that.

And last but not least, my Kumo nin bandanna Just because I'm not a Konoha genin yet doesn't mean I'm going to stop wearing it. I am a genin anyway, just of a different village, I earn't this headband, now I just have earn the Leaf headband too.

* * *

Naruto balled his hands and rubbed them in his eyes, getting rid of the sleep that had formed during his rest. He looked around to find himself in his apartment, his quilt tangled up around him as it usually is when he wakes up. His face felt extremely painful for some reason.

"What a weird dream that was." he yawned and stretched looking at the time on his alarm clock:

7:45

"Hey! I actually woke up only ten minutes after my alarm this time! New record! Believe it!" He fist-pumped the air and scrambled out of bed.

He didn't bother picking his way through the rubbish on his floor and just trampled through, bladder about to burst and whatnot. He stumbled into the bathroom and let out a sighed at he released last nights Ramen's soup into the toilet. He flushed wiped, the spun around, ready to go back to bed for another twenty minutes of sleep. The his eyes caught the mirror.

"WHAT THE HELL!"

* * *

Ren left her apartment just after she heard a large shout from next door and chuckled to herself.

"It seems he saw my little 'gift'."

She decided to take her time walking through the main street. Feeling Nostalgic, Ren ran over to a very familiar looking gap in between two stalls and stepped over the sandbags to trace a finger along a crack in the wall.

"Still here." _But then why wouldn't it be?_ She couldn't help but think that when she returned everything of her existence would be erased, that she would be forgotten.

But she was only half-right. Even though she was stated deceased, she had left her mark on this village, physically and mentally, this wall and from what the Third told her about Kakashi still carrying around her half-staffs, were proof of that.

She left the wall and continued on her way to the Hokage's tower, people and ninja alike were giving her odd looks. A few were even about to arrest her, wondering as to why a Kumo nin was walking their streets, yet then again she must be allowed otherwise she be tied up and be escorted by one of the guards on the gate.

Ren reached the Hokage tower five minutes early. While ascending the stairs to the office she glanced at anyone giving her odd looks making them duck their heads. _I guess having narrow eyes does have it's perks._ she thought. _I don't even have to put much effort in and people think I'm glaring at them._

The genin knocked on the Hokage's door and entered when she heard a 'Come in'. Satisfied to see only the Hokage there and not Homura and Koharu along with him, she sat stood with her arms crossed facing Sarutobi.

"I can see from the expression on your face that you've met our prankster." The Third stated not looking up from filling in his papers.

_What?! How could he know about that? Is my face giving something away? _Ren thought

"If your wondering how i know, it's because of that scowl on your face,". _Hey! Thats just my normal face!_ She almost retorted back a him. "There's a reason i put you in the apartment next door to his. I specifically remember the brat complaining to me one day how his new friend didn't turn up at the academy like she said she would, and what else happened that day. I'm sure you too will get along."

_Like a house on fire_

The Hokage smiled. But that wasn't the only reason. The fact was both the children were orphans, and he thought it would be ideal for them to stick together.

"There are acceptance requirements, Ren."Hiruzen warned her. Then he proceeded to read them out after he put on his glasses

"One. You must love the village and hope to preserve peace and prosperity."

"I do love this village, I came back, didn't I? And after what I've been through I will try my hardest to not let anyone disturb the peace we have."

" Two. You must have a mind that will not yield,able to endure hard training and work."

"I never gave up, even when I only had a year of training to be become a genin." _Mind I didn't get to learn anything about ninjutsu and genjustu. I only needed to learn Kenjutsu and taijutsu, and since Sword fighting came to me easily, after a year I managed to pass the exam._

" Three. You must be healthy in mind and body. If the conditions are met, your admission into the academy will be granted."

Ren panicked at the last one. She's healthy in body, but as far as the mind will go, she's pretty messed up in some parts. But the Hokage didn't need to know that.

"I am."

He raised an eyebrow at that,suspecting she was holding back, but dismissed it anyway. He scribbled his name and signature down on a scroll, her name too then handed out the quill for her to sign her signature.

After doing so The Third cleared his voice.

"The Academy starts at ten to nine every week day for registration. There is a short fifteen minute break and a lunch break. You can got home at three o'clock unless your teacher asks you stay. But don't worry they won't, I've written in the scroll that you are not permitted to stay behind because you have missions to complete, and speaking of missions I have a number of D-ranks here for you to choose."

Ren smiled. She always like the Third, he was a good leader and cared for everyone of Konoha. Still she couldn't wait for the D-ranks, it would give her a chance to explore more parts of Konoha.

"You have a choice between painting a fence, babysitting, or catching a small thief in this village?" Sarutobi guessed at which one she would go for.

"The thief,please." That was the perfect opportunity. It meant she was allowed to explore most of Konoha AND practice her ninja skills.

"Check. After the academy report to the Ichiraku Ramen stand, they were robbed of their money and ramen ingredients." He said as he threw two scrolls at her. One, one containing her admission into the academy and the other with the mission details. He dismissed her with a wave of his hand.

"Err.. Hokage-sama?"

"Yes?"

"How am I supposed to get there? I don't know where it is?"

"I'm sure you know someone who does, now away with you, can't you see I'm busy." He gestured to the paperwork on his desk. Most of it was in fact about Ren, but she didn't need to know that.

Ren gave him a confused look before exiting.

She stomped down the stairs scowling to herself. _Great now the Third won't tell me who it is, i have to work it out for myself _Ren thought as she made it down to the main street again. Not sure which way to turn for the academy she asked a civilian who gladly pointed her in the right direction.

A flash of memory skipped in her mind of Ramen cups littering the floor of a certain apartment.

"You've got to be kidding!" She yelled out in exasperation when it finally clicked who the Third meant, earning a few looks.

Startled by the sudden beeping from her watch, Ren stubbed her toe on a random plank of wood on the ground. She grabbed her foot and started hopping on the spot swearing at the same time.

"Fuck,shit,fuck,shit,dammit, whorefuck,chickenshit,fuck,shit..." until the pain started to go away. She looked around annoyed to find disapproval in a lot of human eyes._ I'm making myself out to be weird_

Remembering that her watch was beeping, Ren clicked the button to stop it and looked at the time : 8:49

"I'm going to be late."

"Fuck."

* * *

I ran as fast as I could, which was an alright speed, but at the moment not fast enough. I really didn't want to be late. That would be making an entrance and every ones attention would probably be focused on me for a while. Not something I wanted.

I came in sight of the building alongside a tree with a swing hanging from it. I noted another thinking spot. Panting and huffing, I gathered my breath out side the academy doors before entering myself. The doors led onto a large hallway with multiple doors on each side, most likely the different age-groups.

I unstrapped my scrolls from an extra leather loop(they were all adjustable) and put one of them back, tightening the loop again. Inside the scroll was the name of My teacher : Iruka Umino. So I searched for his name on the doors and found it on the second to last one.

Standing outside, I couldn't help but feel nervous yet excited. My shaking hand reached out and turned the door handle. I was two minutes late.

Taking a deep breath, I reminded myself that I was a ninja and opened the door. The room itself was quite large and spacious with a total of nine long desks that seated three students each. Weirdly enough, one desk had four squished twelve year old's behind it. Huh. Maybe there's someone who smells really bad in here and I'm gonna have to sit next to them.

All eyes turned on me, so I glared back and felt satisfied to sea most of them look away. Wimps. It seems my entrance interrupted Iruka shouting out the register. I thought I recognized that name! And now that I see that signature scar I'm positive.

I knew him briefly before I left. Hell knew a lot of ninja before i left, so it shouldn't have been a surprise. But it was.

"Excuse me, but you're not supposed to be in here." His voice brought me back to reality.

"Actually I am." I told him, handing him the scroll. He took it without hesitation and skimmed through it.

I sneaked another peak and noticed that the Hokage had added the extra information about my headband, genin rank,weapons, basically everything I told him before. While she waited for him to finish, Ren studied her surroundings.

A massive window on the right side let sunlight stream in and the blackboard had the register written on it. I recognized two names.

Ino Yamanaka and Shikamaru Nara.

Well that was nice. I remember Kakashi talking to their fathers once while I played in the back with both of them. Well...sorta played. We spent most of the time cloud watching and then trying to get Shikamaru to actually move, and Ino was so bossy about who did what that I lost interest and in the end we watched clouds again.

At first I thought the register was in alphabetical order, but then I realized it was in seat order. So we each had permanent seats until we became Konoha genin. I just hope whoever I'm sitting next to is the silent type.

A sort of quiet strangled noise made it's way out of Iruka's throat. I'm guessing he finally found out who I was. I feel kind of guilty. He, like a lot of other ninja must blame themselves for being able to find me. But it's okay I'm here now.

I tried to give him a reassuring smile but my face would not allow it. What is up me?! I swear the Hokage must have magic fairy dust in his room because that's the only place that I act like who I used to be.

Iruka got over the shock pretty fast.

"Welcome back Ren." He smiled warmly at me. Now _that_ is the type of welcome I expected after being away for six years, not accusations of being an intruder. Thank you Iruka.

He then turned to the rest of the class.

"Class we have a new student today, who just transferred from Kumo and will be joining us for the next two months. Please make her feel welcome." Iruka gave me another encouraging smile.

"Sensei!" A girl with unusual pink hair stood up. "Why does she already have a headband?"

Before Iruka could answer, I interrupted.

"Shouldn't you be asking me that question?" I warned. How rude. The girl grew silent and sat back down.

"Please take a seat." Iruka gestured to the desks. The only seat available -Not gonna make a four-man desk, I value my elbow space- was in between two boys on the far right,Halfway up. Unfortunately one was wearing an orange jumpsuit and I couldn't keep the groan out of my voice.

I trudged up the steps and wondered why the kid hasn't sprung up yet, yelling accusations. Took me a few second to figure out he was asleep, drooling on the paper in front of him. As long as he's quiet.

I prepared to take the seat beside him and the other boy when I noticed this seat had a bag on it. Assuming it belonged to the boy on my left(not the orangutan because it had an identical symbol to that of the one on the back of the boy, I crossed my arms and turned to him. I thought we didn't have to bring bags...Glancing around quickly gave me the impression this boy was the only one.

"Excuse me, could you please move your bag?" For some reason apart from Iruka, the whole classes attention was on us, and I was getting a lot of glares from a substantial number of girls, including Ino. What the hell?!

Somehow it came off more as a challenge than the politely question I was hoping for. The boy didn't even look up at me when he spoke. I swear these kids have no manners.

"Make me." He said in a cool voice. So this is why no one's sitting next to him. He won't let them. And it looked like he wasn't challenged about it or those who did, lost. Iruka was oblivious to the whole thing so I took matters into my own hands.

I reached for his bag, but with moves the Yellow Flash would be proud of -Sorry I take every opportunity to mention my father, because he's just too cool- the boy grabbed hold of my wrist.

Oh it's on.

I decided to test his strength. I wasn't particularly amazing strong, but my strength rivaled a lot of boys my age. I tend to rate skills have out of five. My own strength is 2.5, and with the way my arm was pushing the boys hand away from me I'm putting him in my head as a 2.

I could see him frowning, still not looking at me. Maybe it's time for him to let go. I gave a massive pushed and his grip came loose, and with my other hand a grabbed the bag off the chair, sat down, and threw it in his face. There's nothing like throwing a little bit of luggage at someone who is getting increasingly on my nerves.

I probably could have just removed the bag with my other hand after he grabbed my wrist, but somehow that would be backing down and declaring he was the winner. It wasn't a challenge to see if I could remove the bag,well that bit too, but more like a test of strength. And I won.

Surprisingly the kid had slept through all of it, even if it was just a quick scuffle. I realized Iruka forgot to mention my name. Then again, he'll add it to the register.

"Sasuke Uchiha!" Our sensei called out.

"Here." Mumbled the pile of shit beside me. He's an Uchiha?! Well chickenshit.

"Renata Namikaze!" Yep, I was right.

"Here." I replied. And I noticed a few of the head in the room perked up. Of course. Wanting to know what I was called and whatnot. I am the new kid after all.

But then, I almost forgot the other reason, there will be a few book-smart pupils in here that will recognize the Namikaze family name. And I wonder if Ino and Shikamaru remember me too. With a quick glance in their direction, I huffed in disappointment. Ino didn't seem to notice anything different. Then again we were about five when we played together.

Yet a head did turn in my direction. Shikamaru. Of course he wouldn't forget easily. He's a Nara, one of the sharpest minds on the block. And I have to say, this is the least laziest I have seen him look, it's almost amusing. I put my hand up in a piece sign as a sort of silent greeting.

It still didn't wipe the shock off his face, or change how he was calculating how it was possible.

"Naruto Uzumaki!"

"Here." yawned the kid. No Way! How was he an Uzumaki! Does that mean I'm related to him?! I almost threw up at the thought. Then I calmed myself down. If I was, it would only be very, VERY distant because I remember Kakashi saying how my biological father was not a direct descendant and according to the DNA tests concluded that he was only quarter Uzumaki, making me one eighth. Which wasn't too bad.

In the back of my mind -since I found out about my clan and how they were very close with the Uzumaki's,especially since they both originated from Uzushiogakure- I told myself that if I ever met an Uzumaki man when I was older, I would marry him, and considering they were pretty rare these days, it would have to be the first one I met.

And now thinking about it, I never expected an Uzumaki to be like...like..what was his name again? Oh yeah; Naruto! I nearly emptied the contents of my stomach again. Yeah I think I'll have to go back and revise that goal.

Luckily, he went back to sleep. I shifted my body a bit to get into a more comfortable position, the chairs were in a curved like shape to help your posture but all they did was make my swords uncomfortable for me, which is a first.

Something dropped out from underneath my flak jacket and I swore quietly. I must not have done up the loop properly and feeling around, indeed my mission scroll was not longer there. I went under the desk to retrieve it. Sensei had gone out of the room to talk to a boy with Red markings on his cheeks that had just punched someone, so I was safe from being shouted at.

Now I was completely under the desk reaching for my scroll that had rolled sideways to the left. It seemed to had rolled under the Uchiha's legs and to the edge of the desk stand. Great.

Hopefully the raven haired boy won't notice. I crawled cautiously along the floor and managed to maneuver myself around under the Uchiha's legs. Why does he have to be so awkward and stretch them as far as they can?!

Okay, I think I'm in reaching distance. Stretching out my right hand I made a grab for it. But somebody got there first. I glanced up to see the lump of shit smirking at me while taking my scroll above the desk. Bastard.

In a desperate attempt to get it back I accidentally tried to stand up too soon and banged my back against the roof of the desk, hurting my back and also producing a loud clang from my blades.

"Okay slow down. Back out, slowly." I told myself as I shuffled out from under the desk. I climbed back onto my seat and fortunately for me the Uchiha was taking his time opening the scroll. And I could take a guess why. He wanted to do it in front of me.

"Give that back." I warned, and this time I made my eyes even narrower. I'm sorry but no one can match my badass glare. Just like no one can match that stupid smirk he gave me.

I smiled. He hasn't seen my headband yet, he wasn't paying attention when that girl called out about it. He must think he's far above me, otherwise he wouldn't be holding my scroll right now.

He opened it and I reached behind my back out of habit. No that's too much. So I reached for my Kunai instead. A few seconds was all it took for me to get behind him and thrust the weapon under his chin.

"Give. It. Back."

He ignored me. So I cut him. Not deeply, but just enough for him to know I'm not playing around. And he flinched in surprise. I took the chance.

I snatched the scroll from him.

"Sorry little Uchiha, but that's confidential, It's something for _ninja_ like me, not wittle academy students like you." I couldn't help but rub it in his face.

"Pfft. Your not even a genin yet." He retorted, with a little bit of anger in his voice. He still wasn't looking at me.

"Wow he speaks." Then I tapped my cloud forehead protected. "What do you call this then, Uchiha?"

He finally looked up, onyx eyes finding my own before rising a little higher and they widened in shock. I will never get tired of seeing that.

"I rest my case." I said.

"Hn." He replied turning away and frowning once more. It felt good to know he was confused. Yet it was obvious he was intrigued and I'm sure if it wasn't for his arrogant attitude, he would have asked me about it. Then a sudden voice broke the tense atmosphere.

"Don't you dare talk to Sasuke-kun like that. You just got here, just because your the new kid doesn't mean you get to do whatever you want. You're a nobody, so Sasuke won't go out with a girl like you just because your playing hard to get!"

I didn't realize this guy was so popular. Hey! His name is Sasuke! What a common name! I've met two in Kumo. Unlike the one here they were actually quite friendly. Wait a second did she just say...

"Yeah!" Piped up another voice. This one belonged to the girl with pink hair. "Sasuke is too good for you, go back to Kumo where you belong!" Ouch that was uncalled for. I looked back at Sasuke...whats so special about him?!

These girls really weren't doing Kunoichi any justice. They were pretty pathetic. But I decided to get the best out of it.

"Fine! Anyone want to swap seats with me?!" I offered. A look of pure terror lit up Sasuke's face. Hehe...I know your weakness, Uchiha.

Unfortunately Iruka chose that moment to rejoin the classroom. "Right class, lets go outside into the training arena. We are going to test out our Taijutsu skills in one-on-one fights. The winners of each match will fight each other and the losers will also go up against each other. Then we will have an overall winner."

Oh taijutsu. I'm not too shabby at that. I'd say I was a 2/5. I practiced hard within the passed year, but without training for five years It's taken a while for my body to get used to it, I have a natural talent for it, unfortunately my body is not young enough for it to be ingrained as much as it would have been if I had stayed in Konoha and attended the academy.

Shame that.

And then Naruto woke up. He still looked half asleep. The twelve year old looked at me then to his right. Then he looked back at me and got the shock of his life.

"GAH! IT'S YOU!"

This is going to be a long day...

* * *

**I bet no one expected that! Okay maybe you did but oh well. **

**I corrected the spelling mistakes and put in missing words on chapter 2. but if I missed any do tell. Same here on Chapter 3 but I think I did better with this one.**

**And no Sasuke's not gonna be like " Oh Ren I love you because your not like the other girls, you dislike me, lets get together and make babies." sorry that's not gonna happen, I just don't see it in Sasuke's personality at this age.**

**Ren is very, very distantly related to Naruto, which in fact in the ninja world would make her an ideal candidate for his future wife, because of her Uzumaki genes she could carry on the line without tainting . I'm not saying that that is going to happen, just pointing it out.**

**So yeah please review if you read it. Even it it's just one word like "Good" or even a letter! Also just to say I know the whole meeting with the Hokage is a bit non-realistic, but that's because Ren is refusing to tell them and they are not gonna get her interrogated because she's already been through enough and it might shift her mental stability, The could use Inoichi, but the Third felt that Ren had a right to keep them to herself, and secretly he wants her to become a chunin.**

**Ren is stronger than most of the boys because her swords are not particularly light and so she needed to build up her muscle mass so she could wield them without getting tired.**

**Okami out**


	4. Chapter 4: Oh My Ramen

**Sorry for the long wait, I've finished my exams and straight after my last one I went on holiday to scotland for a week, this is my last day in scotland so I finished this chapter(it's been sitting at 8000 words in my doc manager) today on my last day of holiday, hope ya like it **

* * *

**Chapter 4: Oh My Ramen**

* * *

Instinct made me grab a handful of that ridiculous blonde hair and bring Naruto's head/face down onto the table fast. And hard, effectively shutting him up.

A loud bang was the result, not to mention Naruto's future bruises. This brought the attention of the class and Iruka back to me.

"What happened to Naruto!?" Sensei gestured to the blonde who was groaning.

Again I reacted quickly and did what most kids do when they are in trouble and do not have the forethought to stop and think about the situation at hand. I swear I've changed a lot since I've come back here; I need to get back to my usual silent and mysterious self, right after this.

"Sasuke! Why did you just hit Naruto!?" Yep. That's right. I pinned the blame on somebody else. Of course that somebody else could retaliate. Lucky for me that somebody was Sasuke.

He glared at me, slightly shocked and about to speak when Iruka asked the same thing I did.

"I saw the whole thing Iruka sensei!" I said. Just keep digging myself into a deeper hole. But it's too late, the lie has already started. Next time I'll think before I act. "Naruto was arguing that he was better than Sasuke, he was being really annoying to Sasuke bonked him on the head." I hope I got Naruto's personality right.

From the look of understanding on Iruka's face what I just said must have been a natural thing.

Sasuke looked outraged, but refused to argue, thinking it was beneath him. Lucky me.

"Make sure it doesn't happen again Sasuke, that's a warning, two more and you're staying after school." Our teacher gave a disapproving look. "Now let's all gather outside in the training grounds where I will explain the rules properly."

The class grumbled and slowly followed though a few girls looked back and glared at me as if to say 'How dare you get Sasuke-kun in trouble'.

Sasuke waited in his chair. I think he wanted me to explain myself. Shame he was wrong about that. Instead I sat Naruto up and pried open his eyelids. It took a few seconds for him to release himself from his daze but when he did he curled his fist in anger.

"Why did you do that?!" he whined rubbing his head.

"You were about to cause a melodramatic scene which will be difficult to deal with which would end with me explaining to the whole class exactly what happened last night, and I would rather not." Sasuke perked his head up as this, maybe he was slightly interested as to what 'happened' last night.

Naruto glared at me. "So who are you?" To be fair, I don't think his voice has a turn down button, never mind a turn off. It really didn't do well for my brain. Something my clan were very prone to: severe migraines. Don't ask, I don't know why either.

Instead of trying to bash his face in for the umpteenth time, I lowered my voice, so as not to let Sasuke listen in. "I arrived in Konoha last night, where I met the Hokage. He gave me an apartment, next to yours I might add, and enrolled me in the academy, to prove my loyalty to Konoha and to assess my skills as a genin. If you would like to take it up with the Third, be my guest. I'm sure he will tell you the exact same thing."

Seeing the news start to settle in the kids mind, I got ready to take my leave and to continue outside. Instead, the grabbed my flak blonde grabbed my flak jacket preventing my journey. _Again, manners? Where were they?! A simple 'excuse me' or 'please wait' would do, but noooo the ninjas here just grab you and accusation follows._

"Maybe I should have stayed in Kumo." Naruto didn't hear but proceeded with why he had stopped me.

"Okay then, why do you wear a mask?" The twelve year old was curious, I understand that. He wants to see my face. Well that's not going to happen unless it's on my terms.

"A ninja never shows their emotion, while I'm training myself to do so, I'm using a mask that will hide any slip-ups." It wasn't really anything secretive.

"Yeah well why did you leave a trap if you weren't a burglar?!" By that time he had jumped on the desk and was pointing at me again.

"Didn't your parents ever tell you it's rude to point?" I glared at him. That seemed to shut Naruto up for some reason and a hurt look came over him. But he shook it off and plastered on a large grin instead. "Okay then, I'll see you outside." And with that he raced out the classroom.

"That was weird-" Sasuke cut me off.

"I don't appreciate the blame put on me for something you did. No wonder you got sent back to the academy. That was a pretty immature stunt you pulled. Was the life of a lowly genin really too tough for you." His smirk made me want to wring his neck. Instead I opted for a less aggressive answer.

"You don't know anything." _of reality, _was what I really wanted to say but opted just for the first four words.

With that remark I noticed a sudden change in Sasuke's attitude. Anger tore at his face and his rage intensified.

"If you ever say something like that to my face again, I don't care if you're a girl," he began, that girl comment really got to me though. "Things will not end well for you. " It's almost as if he read my mind and put together the other part I wanted to say.

OKay, what I've learned so far; these kids were wierd, suddenly changing the subject and thier emotions, as well as over reacting.

Maybe something awful happened to him. But nah there's no point in dwelling on it, finding out more about Sasuke Uchiha won't help me to become a Konoha ninja.

Ignoring him was the better option. It's not like I'm going to working with him when I'm a Konoha genin. So with Naruto gone I was free to move and joined the rest of the classroom outside, Sasuke trailing behind.

Sensei gave us a disapproving look. "Glad to see our slower students catching up."

He then went on to explain the rules. "I will divide all thirty of you into three groups. This is more like a competition which will go towards your grade in Taijutsu. We will have one on one match's, where the winners will fight the winners of another fight and the losers will fight the losers of another fight, until we have a ranking of best to worst in each group. The top three winners in each group will then compete against each other for the title of taijutsu rookie of the year. This will most likely last the entire week, with the last few matches on Friday."

Our Sensei took a breath. "However, we will not have matches from each group going on at the same time, so I can assess each match individually."

The students groaned at this, meaning it will take longer than usual. Iruka began calling names out. I strained to hear my own but it seems he left me out. Confused I walked over to him to ask him why I was not among the groups, while the kids sorted themselves into three lines.

"Sensei-" Iruka cut me off by raising a hand and gesturing at two chairs. He went to sit down in one, and I sat down in the other. Okay now I was really confused.

"Ren, on the scroll that you gave me the Third has asked that you help me assess the taijutsu classes, as training for when you become a chunin, as you are officially a genin, there is no need for you to participate in but one match today, so I can see where you are at, and you will be in the top group at the end of the week."

"Lord Hokage wants you to have practice analyzing the skills, and weaknesses of a handful of academy students, and what they can do to better them, as well as analyzing your own skills. Both you and I will discuss these and I will judge how good your assessment skills are. I will then conduct a test for you, putting these skills to use."

The whole thing was quite surprising. But then again of course the Hokage wants me to this, it was probably the council members idea actually. Doing this would mean I would be a likely candidate for the chunin exams and give me an advantage at entering and passing, meaning they could get their information quicker. Those rats. Then again, I have to admit this is good practice for me.

It would mean If I were ever in charge of a squad I would know exactly which formation they should go in, and I'll be able to find an enemies weak points quickly.

"Okay, so who am I fighting against?" Most likely they would put me against the top of the class. Usually the highest ranking would already be at genin-level so that was okay with me.

"Sasuke Uchiha." Except when that rookie is Sasuke. Okay, I can win this, no sweat. Then again Sasuke's had many more years of training than I've had, AND he is from an elite clan. This is going to be fun.

Iruka stood up and announce. "The first match is irrelevant to the competition, it is merely a test for a certain someone. Sasuke Uchiha and Renata Namikaze, please enter the arena." And by area he means the middle of the training ground that is marked out by a wide painted circle.

Sensei gave me an encouraging nod to send me on my way, so I shrugged and dragged my feet across the ground, in a very Kakashi-like manner.

Sasuke met me in the middle, hands in pockets and slightly slouched.

"Let's just get this over with." I drawled.

"Hn"

"BEGIN!"Iruka-sensei yelled. I immediately backed up into a defence position. I can go in and attack first without knowing my opponents speed. It's better to overestimate than to underestimate, so that's what I'm doing. Later on I would regret that I didn't overestimate him enough.

Sasuke rocketed towards me at a very fast pace. At first he looked as if he was heading straight for me, but instead he veered to my left ducked down and swept out his left foot. If I hadn't been on high alert, he would have swept me off my feet, instead I jumped in the air and aimed a punched for the back of his neck and bringing my other fist back in case he blocked the first one.

He did. What I didn't expect was for him to also turn around in that short amount of time and block the second one too. This kid has some serious agility skills. But I had more tricks up my sleeve. Most ninja would retreat back to gather themselves. Just what Sasuke expected. Not me.

My finger gripped the wrists he used to block me with, and doing a backwards somersault - I'm still in the air, this whole thing is happening very fast- I flipped him over me and used the momentum to force both of us to land on our backs, but making sure Sasuke got the worst damage. I just landed. He had more force against him.

But that didn't stop the Uchiha from bouncing back up as thought it were nothing. Fortunately I made it to my feet at the same time. I almost scolded myself at how the technique should have worked. My style was to usually to go down with the opponent but to use their own strength and the momentum I gathered against them, though I tended to hurt myself lightly in the process.

Wait-There! Yes. His posture has changed to accommodate the new pain in his back. He's just not letting on. We both sprang apart and circled each other, waiting for the other to make the second move. I guess it's my turn.

I relaxed my defensive posture and just walked casually towards him. I have to say this technique is so effective it's ridiculous. This made the Uchiha weaken his defence also, as if thinking I was just winging it now, and that I wasn't alert or whatever. But really this was just a disguise. I know exactly what to do, and inside I was getting ready to pounce. it was quiet funny to watch as Sasuke looked confused as hell.

Sasuke would have noticed it if he had been looking at my eyes, darting this way and that way, going through different scenarios. So within a metre distance of Sasuke I suddenly kicked out at him. He caught my leg with both hands thinking he had the upper hand. Perfect. And just as he was about to pound me into the ground I clasped my hands around his, and with flexibility I didn't know I had, I kicked my foot straight upwards, taking Sasuke with it, with him up in the air.

I'm pretty lucky I'm as strong as I am. Even this was pretty hard to do. Thank Kami Sasuke wasn't heavy. Then I did a backwards flip, still holding onto his hands that were gripping my leg so he didn't get away. I landed on my back again, but unlike last time, there was a sickening crunch as Sasuke hit the ground, full force head-first.

Turning around I was surprised to see that my technique, for the first time worked perfectly. In that sense, that the top half of Sasuke's body was invisible due to being underground. His legs flopped almost lifelessly backwards.

I was breathing hard. It took a good bit of effort on my part to time it all right AND keep up with Sasuke. The effects of the jutsu I used were much like the end result of the lotus. The whole thing took place in under a minute. Thinking I had one the match I turned my back on Sasuke. Mistake number one.

I stumbled forwards after being being kicked harshly in the back, but before I regained my balance Sasuke was spinning in the air repeatedly landing blows against my back. If It weren't for my swords protecting me, the match would be over and Sasuke declared the winner.

I ducked,sat on the ground and slid myself backwards fast and far using my feet to push my body. Rolling slightly backwards I gained momentum to jump onto my feet in time to see Sasuke recovering and coming for me. I blocked a kick to my head, but the Uchiha went back into a handstand, using his palms to move and again kicked out with his other leg, this one caught me in the face.

I hissed in pain, yanked his ankle in my left hand, readied my right fist and pulled Sasuke's body over my shoulder so after drawing back my fist and flung it forwards and it collided with Sasuke's gut. The force was so great because both were moving at high speeds that I saw the boy cough up some blood. However I wasn't the only one to draw blood. I could feel some of the red liquid running down my own face.

After that we both engaged once more and this time it was plain old Taijutsu, with a few tricks and smart moves, but no special jutsu. I may be stronger than Sasuke, but that's almost nothing against the speed he has against me, and also being skillful with agility was a deadly combination. I may be fast, most likely fast than most of the kids in my year, but Sasuke's was greater.

I threw out more punches and kicks. He dodged more, and I blocked more, not quick enough to get out of the way. Overall I got hit more. I was lucky he wasn't as strong as me, otherwise I would be finished. Examining him now while we were fighting - I think it's safe to say it's gone past friendly sparring- Sasuke looked quite damaged. His posture was slightly hunched over as if to ease some of his pain, and every once in a while he would wince when I would land a blow to his back, neck or head.

However, even if Sasuke had more wounds than I did, he still had energy to spare, where as I was getting tired. Quickly. It was simple very -and I quote- troublesome to keep up with the raven-haired boy. Either I was going to lose of exhaustion or Sasuke was going to break down of his injuries.

Although they weren't fatal, they were slightly severe and wounds to the back and neck affect your performance more so than any other part of the body, due to the type of stances you need to hold and how your neck and back movements are very important in taijutsu.

So we both continued what seemed to be an endless cycle of punches,kicks,twists,side-stepping,flips,dodges, and blocking. So far an hour has flown by and the academy students around us were glued to our fight. And now looking in Sasuke's eyes, I knew. I couldn't win this.

His skills in taijutsu far exceeds mine. His is graceful and he has a natural talent for it, as well as training for years, while mine is slightly rigid and rough, and though I have a knack for it, I will never be as good as Sasuke. Even if I had been training from the same age as him. I might have been close, but it 's something he will always be better at.

Yet as I thought that, I was not going to give up that easy. I'm going to try my hardest and go down fighting, making this the the toughest fight of his life, even if my bones and muscles are screaming in agony. I watched Sasuke's eyes narrowed as he looked at mine which were filled with new-found determination.

And that determination withered as soon as I noticed that Sasuke was building up his chakra. Something I didn't know how to yet.

"Shit."

* * *

And the Uchiha came flying at Ren, using chakra to make his blows harder and to make him quicker on his feet.

_Okay...I think I did...well...to keep up with him during some parts of fighting his chakra induced body...Oh who am I kidding, there's no way I can win this _The kumo nin thought as she continued to block and evade Sasuke. It was rare that she hit him now, but every time she succeeded, he just brushed it off like a fly.

New tactic..new tactic, uh weak spot? Her eyes darted back and forth, trying to find a weakness, but she couldn't. _Well there was one...but I couldn't possibly..it's just wrong and dirty...but then again you're a ninja, and ninja fight dirty. Please forgive me for this later Sasuke._

An opening occurred at that moment, Ren closed her eyes not wanting to look upon her treachery and struck out. She opened her eyes after hearing a groan and Sasuke's face was inches away from hers, his fist stopped mid-way and his face twisted in complete and utter pain. Several gasps directed her attention to the audience as they witnessed the horrifying act. And yet someone was laughing.

"HAHAHAHA OH MY GOD! RIGHT IN THE BALLS! JUST WHAT HE DESERVES. I TAKE BACK ANYTHING BAD I SAID ABOUT YOU! THIS IS OFFICIALLY. THE. BEST. DAY. OF. MY. LIFE." Naruto was pointing again and using his other hand to clutch his belly.

"You must have a pretty boring life." Ren joked to herself. And then the fan-girl mob started shouting insults about how the new girl damaged Sasuke's fertility and the Pink haired girl hit Naruto on the head who whimpered in pain. Speaking of whimpering in pain the genin turned her attention back to Sasuke. And she really couldn't decipher the look he was giving her. Mortified? Angry? Disbelief? Constipated? _I could believe the last one._

Instead he spluttered, coughed and grabbed her around my neck, threw her to the ground where he brought down the full force of his leg onto her unprotected stomach. Ren felt as if all her organs were being strangled in that single moment, and blood drizzled down her lips without even realizing she had coughed up more.

"WINNER -finally- SASUKE UCHIHA!"

And the girls went wild. Literally. They shook each other and screamed in happiness. Sasuke ignored it all as if to say 'I'm too cool for school' Before moving much closer to Ren, his body was already crouched over hers menacingly.

Oblivious to the detail of that moment the audience failed to noticed Sasuke spitting in Ren's face and uttering the words " You don't deserve that headband, and if you pull a stunt like that again, next time I won't be so merciful."

Ren glared at him, refusing to wipe the spit off her face. " We're ninjas, we're supposed to use our opponents weaknesses against them, so really I'm just doing what any shinobi would do, it you have a problem with it, take it up with Lord Hokage."

"hn" Sasuke just turned his back on her as she struggled to get to her feet. After finding her balance, she made her hands into the reconciliation seal, as a demonstration that two opponents are still comrades after sparring.

"Good fight." she said as she waited for him to make the seal. Instead the Uchiha walked out of the circle. And that really pissed Ren off. It's proving a point to her to say she was a waste of his time and not good enough to fight, as well as insinuating she was inferior to him.

_What happened to he respect between shinobi? and the MANNERS?! That was something Minato always had;respect for his elders and anyone who worked hard regardless of their views and who they were, and lovely,beautiful manners. _Ren thought. She decided it wasn't worth getting annoyed over so she calmed down_. Well I'm not going to lower myself to his level._

"Sasuke."Sensei's voice felt icy. "That was your second warning, make sure I don't give you a third."

"It's not my fault she's weak." Sasuke snorted. Then he winced. He grabbed at his stomach. _Dammit, she's a lot tougher than I thought! Still she's far behind me, and it's obvious taijutsu isn't her specialty, she was too crude. I doubt she even has a specialty. She didn't damage me that much_ ,Sasuke deluded himself into thinking.

"Sasuke!" Iruka called. "No more fighting today, here, have some Ice-packs." The chunin threw Sasuke three blue plastic cases filled with a cool liquid(recently melted Ice). He sat down, one on his crotch and held the other two to his neck and back, sighing in relief. He glanced over in Ren's direction and watched her like a hawk as the Kumo nin limped across the boundary and sat down beside Iruka who immediately handed her Ice-packs.

The Uchiha couldn't help but be surprised when the girl declined hurriedly, refusing to touch them. He knew he hurt her badly, so why was she so desperate to get those Ice-packs away from her. His sudden interest in the genin annoyed Sasuke. _pfft she's just a wannabe ninja, what do I care._

"Hehe..looks like Sasuke-kun isn't so great after all!" Taunted a very familiar orange-clad boy. Naruto wandered over with his hands behind his head and his signature swag. The Jinchuriki had to admit, the fight was pretty badass, and was pleased to see Sasuke taken down a notch, though Naruto didn't think Sasuke felt less superior. Figures.

"Whatever, loser." Sasuke dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

"What did you just call me?!" Naruto yelled in his ear.

Looking him straight in the eye Sasuke repeated what he had just said. "Loser."

Launching himself at the Uchiha, both Naruto and Sasuke tumbled and rolled over each other, kicking and punching and...biting? Seriously Naruto you're quite an animal.

Something hauled them off each other by grabbing the back of their collars. Iruka stood with both the boys in each hand, keeping them apart.

"RIGHT THAT'S IT! DETENTION FOR BOTH OF YOU AFTER SCHOOL TODAY!" He used his big head jutsu which made Naruto cower in fear and Sasuke pout in annoyance.

The girls started to whine at the Teacher that it wasn't Sasuke's fault but sensei wouldn't hear none of it. Ren watched the whole thing shocked at how quickly things escalated. _Naruto and Sasuke must really dislike each other_ she thought.

Sasuke was pretty pissed off at Naruto now, the only consolation being that the blonde idiot had to go through with detention also, meaning payback. Glaring at the blonde, Naruto noticed crossed his arms in a huff and stuck his tongue out at him.

After Iruka ordered them to stay at other ends of the training ground the instructor turned to the rest of the class.

"Okay, since this match was particularly long, we have missed our break and it seems It's-

RING

"-lunch, so all of you can stay out here today since it's a nice day to eat." _Lunch?! Wait that means my fight was Sasuke lasted two hours?! Wow when your actually a part of it, the spar felt like it only lasted twenty minutes _Ren thought.

"Oh. I forgot to bring food." Inwardly the girl smacked herself in the face. She proceeded to stand up from sitting down on the chair, but her muscle refused to comply without great pain. Sweating and breathing heavily, Ren finally managed to stand. _Thats the first time I underestimated someone. That kid was at least chunin-level!_

Stumbling over to the edge of the training ground where there was a grass patch underneath the shadow of a few trees, the genin couldn't help but notice a few of the boys give her a thumbs up or smile at her. "Well it seems not everyone is Sasuke's fan."

Ren sat down in the shade contemplating how the match went for when Iruka would ask her what she thought of it. After agreeing with herself which points to bring up she lay down with her hands behind her head, her knees brought up so only her back was flat against the ground, and one leg over lapped the other.

Cloud watching was one of the most relaxing things that came to mind. When Ren lived in Kumo, it was practically encouraging you to watch them drift along the sky, what activity better suited than to the village hidden in the clouds?

She watched with curiosity as she spotted a one that resembled a wolf howling. "I swear every time I look up, the clouds take some form of a wolf." She scowled quietly to herself.

Ren didn't waver her gaze when she felt someone lie down beside her, in almost the same position.

"Huh, well I tend to see deer, must be a clan thing, though I don't think wolves are a Namikaze animal." The boy beside her voiced his opinion.

The Kumo nin felt the need to smile, unfortunately smiling was harder than she thought. "I was wondering when you would turn up, Shikamaru."

The Nara just shrugged. "This is my spot, so...yeah."

"I remember you to have cloud-watching spots all over Konoha. Unfortunately for you, I've taken it up as a hobby, so you may have some competition for those areas." Ren replied lightly.

"See that one there?" Shikamaru pointed to a cloud that was the exact shape of the kumo marking on my forehead protector. "So, where have you been, Namikaze." Despite the relaxed and somewhat lazy manor Shikamaru showed, Ren could tell that he was trying to connect the dots, and if she gave some information, no matter how small, it would be just the right piece to the puzzle.

"Here and there, there and here. Quite an adventure, really." She replied casually, of course dripped with ice.

"You've been gone six years." The Nara boy stated flatly.

"Didn't realize it was that long." This was getting tense now.

"Why exactly are you wearing a mask, and don't give me the bullshit you gave Naruto." _So he was eaves-dropping_ Ren growled to herself. What they didn't know was that the mask was an extra-layer of protection.

"Fine! If you are all getting so worked up about it I'll take it of." she growled, thrusting the navy blue cloth down around her neck to reveal her face. Shikamaru almost flinched when he looked at her. There were not soft touches. Her small nose was sharp, her jaw was thin and sharp, similar to an upside down triangle. Her lips were dry and thin, and were in a permanent straight line. With her narrow eye's , she looked far older than she was.

But that wasn't the only thing tat shocked the Nara boy. Just below her jaw on her neck was a thin jagged white scar, and across her left cheek was the ugliest and most brutal scar Shikamaru has every seen, like a big fat dark pink worm.

"Satisfied?" Ren asked coldly.

Shikamaru just stayed silent and went back to watching the clouds. Ren raised her mask again.

"What are you trying to hide?" He asked after several minutes.

The Kumo nin didn't answer until a while later.

"Me."

* * *

I felt safer opening up to Shikamaru than plenty of other people, even if it was just a little bit. I almost laughed out loud when I spotted a cloud portraying A deer chasing a wolf with it's antlers down. Noticing Shikamaru saw it too, I saw him smirking.

The bell rang meaning lunch was over and we had an hour and a half left of school. It's quite nice that It finishes at two o'clock, meaning the kids have time to get some training down and other things before the sun goes down, and that we haven't spent all our day at school. I had a quick look at the time table Iruka had given me:

8:50- registration

8:55- 9:20 - usually time for the kids to hang around, and for Iruka to talk to them individually about their training or behavioral problems, or to relay any messages or information.

9:20- 10:00 Lesson time

10:00-10:30- break

10:30-11:30- Lesson time

11:30-12:30 - Lunch

12:30-2:00 - Lesson time

"Come on, lets join the others." I heard Shikamaru say, already standing and offering out his hand. I took it and he pulled me up. We walked over in a lazy-like manner towards the other students. Now _Shikamaru_, he was polite. And smart might I add by not pointing out the obvious all the time, which many shinobi do and are considered clever. No, Nara's look underneath the underneath.

Right then I decided I wanted him on my team when I graduate.

The students all gathered around Iruka-sensei as he announced the first match. The one before didn't count considering Iruka was just testing my skills.

"Hoturo Mazinake and Getabi Umuta from group 1." Iruka along with the other students sat down while the match commenced, though he got a chair and the others a dusty ground. Oh well, at least I get a chair. I made my way over to Iruka sensei, carefully zig-zagging in and out of twelve year old's legs that were stretched out. They were oblivious to the fact I was trying to maneuver myself around them.

Just to prove my point, I purposefully stepped on the pink-haired girl's leg, who screamed out in pain. Now that was an over exaggeration. Ino who was only a meter away smirked. I'm getting a hang of this social life here at the academy.

"Sorry." I mumbled while she rubbed her leg, and I moved on. Finally sitting down and resting again felt good as I settle in next to Iruka.

"I want you to assess only the students who are from clans, AND Sakura Haruno. But I want you to tell me which ones are from clans." Sensei said. Okay thought I've got no idea who Sakura Haruno is, but clan kids were easier to pick out because one: they are usually stronger and two: they have their own unique style.

"Well I already know Shikamaru Nara, the lazy boy over there, Ino Yamanaka, with the long blonde hair, Sasuke Uchiha who I just fought and Naruto Uzumaki, the one in orange." I replied counting the off my fingers as I did so.

"Good now you have to figure out the others as we watch them fight, now tell me are either Hoturo or Getabi from a clan?"

Studying their every move I realized they were using the basic taijutsu you were taught in the academy, no smart moves or tricks. Also the blows were quite weak, which made the answer even clearer when those weak blows were very painful to both the boys.

"No. They use only what they were taught, not even to the normal standard and they haven't made it more than that. They are both very weak and very slow. Which means they will never make it to chunin, and not just because their not clan members, they would be better off as civilians, or genin only performing D-ranks." I said. A lot of these kids need to wake up to reality and I didn't even bother keep the harshness out of my voice.

"Good, good. Now have a rest while this match is on, I need to mark their grades anyway." Iruka smiled at me before turning to the clipboard in his hands, while scribbling down notes.

I closed my eyes, knowing Iruka would wake me when it was time for me to assess.

A small cough caught my attention and my eyes snapped open.

Naruto was sitting a meter away from me on the ground, his legs crossed with his hands on each of his knees. He was trying hard to look aloof and to keep staring forwards.

"So...uh I saw what happened between you and Sakura." His lips actually moved sideways in my direction, but he still kept his eyes forward. This was ridiculous, who's Sakura anyway?..Oh wait, that must be Sakura Haruno, right...Haruno, Haruno. I glanced around the students. Which one have I been involved with. Aha! It must be pinky! After all blossoms are pink, yeah that must be her.

"What of it?" Was he referring to when I stepped on her leg?

Naruto slid himself close sideways, acting as if he was the best spy ever. "Why did you step on her?"

I noticed his voice was full of concern. Either she was a sister-like figure...or he fancied her. God I'm getting good at this. "She was in my way." To put it simply.

"You can't just do that, ya know. Just because somebody's in your way doesn't mean you can treat them like dirt and step all over them. You could, I don't know talk to them or something. It's like you think your above them."

Now I've always despised people who thought they were superior to others and did not show respect when it's due. Ninja are equal, that's what wearing the headband means, fighting on equal terms. So when somebody accuses me of thinking like Sasuke does, I get a bit tetchy.

"Hold your tongue and listen. I stepped on her because Sakura was not aware of her surroundings and did not seem to care for anyone else but a select few. In a way I was teaching her lesson to be more aware of others and their needs and to be less selfless. Is she continued on like she does, someone would be forced to kill her because she was in his way. Not many ninja get the chance to see the error of their ways, even if it is quite small it could quickly escalate into something far larger, she may upset an insane ninja this way and well that ninja could kill her. I was doing her a favour."

God My mind is messed up for thinking theories like that. I sneaked a peak at Naruto, whose mouth hung open. Didn't expect that did you?

"So when somebody accuses me of things like you did when actually I was doing quite the opposite, you better watch what you say next time we meet, because as of now, your treading on thin ice." I concluded icily.

Naruto then scutched up right beside me, his position still the same.

"So I saw you talking to Shikamaru...". Oh so he's changed tactics now. Friendliness radiated off him .I think he want's me to elaborate. Too bad. I stayed silent, trying to block him out. I need some rest, dammit.

The kid looked stumped so I decided to throw him a bone. A very, very small bone.

"Aaand?" What a treat! I feel very generous here.

"What were you talking about? I mean don't get me wrong, I'm not being nosy or anything," Yes, you are. "But it's just..." He looked embarrassed now. "I thought we could be friends an' all cause your the new kid and New kids don't come with friends. " Well duh.

"and I could know you more if you told me what you told Shikamaru." He finally finished. He was looking the other way now. And now thinking back to everything I've seen with Naruto, it doesn't look like he has any companions. I almost felt sorry for him. Almost.

I'm no longer the girl who would disobey her big brother's orders by trying to comfort a stranger who looked just the smallest bit lonely.

"Okay I'll tell you word for word what I told him :I was wondering when you would turn up, Shikamaru. I remember you have cloud-watching spots all over Konoha. Unfortunately for you, I've taken it up as a hobby, so you may have some competition for those areas. Here and there, there and here. Quite an adventure, really. Didn't realize it was that long. Fine! If you are all getting so worked up about it I'll take it of."

At this point Naruto's face bore that of a frightened rabbit. It was quite funny to watch his growing confusion. I carried on.

"Satisfied?Me." Naruto almost answered me when I asked 'Satisfied' . There were amazing advantages to have a mind like mine, my amazing memory and the other skill, which I doubt no one else knows about. But of course all things come with a price and mine? At least one migraine every week which apparently is so severe it affects my chakra system meaning that when I have a normal headache(which is more often than you think) I can't use my chakra. But that doesn't matter at the moment. Because I don't even know how to use it yet.

"What have you learned about me then Naruto?" I asked evilly. I could see his eyes darting this way and that as he scanned his brain trying to decipher the 'code' . I didn't even think about what I was saying it just came to me, but I don't think I would have Shikamaru, anything interesting, so I laid back and once again closed me eyes.

"Cloud watching. You like to watch the clouds, so often it's now a hobby."

I didn't expect that, especially when I turned to him and he had that massive grin on his face. That smile actually melted some of the ice surrounding my heart. EUGH! So cheesy! Don't ever think of metaphors like that again! Though I have to say, for some reason it brightened up my day, if that were possible.

"Your not as dumb as you look, kiddo. But seriously, leave me alone, as you can see I'm a tad battered and this princess needs her beauty sleep." I said in a patronizing voice.

He looked crestfallen, But I couldn't care less. I needed to rest, after all I've got to catch a thief soon.

* * *

Ren woke after being nudged lightly by Iruka. Her muscles ached, but not as much as before. Although she lost the match, Sasuke was going to take longer to heal than her, she lost through exhaustion, something she has now replenished.

She opened her eyes to see two new students in the middle. A girl and a boy. The girl had pupiless eyes and navy blue hair while the boy had normal brown eyes and brown hair.

"Clan?" Iruka asked.

Ren concentrated. The girls eyes were very unusual, maybe a dojutsu. She looked shy and reluctant, but when she struck out, even trying to weaken her blows, the boy flinched in pain every time. And that stance. No taught in the academy. She was also blocking every blow the boy gave her, and allowing a select few to pass. The Kumo nin guessed the girl did this out of kindness to make the boy feel like he wasn't a complete loser.

"The girl...Is she a Hyuga? I didn't hear you call out the names." She guessed. Hyuga's were a big deal in Kumo, there have been several attempts at capturing one and Ren remembered vividly of Yugito telling her they originated from Konoha and specialized in something called gentle-fist. She also said they possessed the byakugan, also known as the white eye. The girls eyes reminded her of that.

"Yes well done! How did you know?" _Oh you're not getting me to reveal Kumo's knowledge that easily Iruka-sensei. _Ren thought.

"Well I met a few Hyuga's here before I left and they all had one thing in common." She pointed to her forest eye.

He accepted her answer and they watched the match. Ren had to admit; She was really intrigued by dojutsu. They were quite something. Even the sharingan, and she knows plenty -more specifically,one- people who would want to get their hands on it.

Though I'm glad I don't have one. Relying on a sharingan all the time would make you kind of lazy I think. I mean yeah they copy jutsu's and everything, but I always want to know how jutsu's work, the inside of these techniques and discovering more about them as I learn to wield it, maybe even develop it further. It's like copying the answer to a maths question from your friend, but you don't know how you got the answer, and because of that you can't improve it.

And while Ren was thinking to herself, she failed to notice Sasuke approach them until he spoke.

"Iruka, I would rather not spend another detention, especially with that." He narrowed his eyes at Naruto who was completely unaware. "I have better things to be doing." Indeed the remaining Uchiha did not enjoy being forced to spend time with Naruto, however he was pretty pleased the blonde got the same punishment he did.

"Sorry Sasuke, but some things in life have consequences. "Iruka said simply.

Sasuke scowled and this is where Ren was brought back to reality. She was startled to see Sasuke just about to walk past her.

"Speaking of sharingan's. Have you awakened your's yet?" She asked him.

Sasuke brought himself to an abrupt halt, just after he flinched. His expression showed utter disbelief ._How the hell does she know anything about the sharingan?! _

"Mind you, between you and me," Ren whispered and shielded her lips from the sight of anyone who could possibly lip-read. "I don't think it's quite handy, so if you don't have it, it's probably for the best."

Confused at Sasuke's reaction Ren realized she'd somehow hit a sore spot.

"H-how do you know about the sharingan?" Sasuke stuttered.

"What? Doesn't everyone know?" The kumo nin thought back to her time in captivity. _Yep they definitely talked about the sharingan every time he came to stay. _

"Not academy students, so I would shut up about it if I were you." Sasuke glared at her.

"Whoa, whoa." Ren threw up her hands in a mockingly defensive manner. "No need to get aggressive, we're comrades here."

"No we are not." Sasuke replied as he walked back through the academy doors.

"You could have fooled me." Ren mumbled sarcastically. Turns out Sasuke has a good sense of time because just that seco-

RING

-nd the bell went.

* * *

"Alright everyone, lets get inside and I mark you off.!" Iruka called. It started to rain so as quick as a -yellow(hehe)- flash I rushed inside running through the hallway at full pelt, trying to quickly dry away the few drops of water that had successfully landed on me. I burst through the classroom door and made it to my seat, where Sasuke was already sitting beside me

I tried to catch my breath once I sat down. Shuddering and breathing deeply I realized Sasuke was giving me a weird look.

"What's _wrong_ with you." Sasuke asked a rhetorical question. Just what i needed, more people thinking I was odd.

"I'm just different. Deal with it." I retorted.

"hn." I can already feel a headache coming on. There goes my previous dreams of amazing times at the Konoha academy.

"I need to give Shikamaru a reward for putting up with this for all these years." I muttered. Sasuke seemed to absorbed in himself to notice this time my scroll fall tot he floor. _Again. _Or maybe he just wanted to show he didn't care.

I groaned in annoyance as I reached for it under the table. I must not have tightened it properly, again, or it came loose during my fight with Sasuke. I need to get my Leather straps checked out in case they need repairing.

When I resurfaced with scroll in hand, I found Naruto sitting beside me and the rest of the class filling in.

"What's that?" The orangutan gestured to my scroll.

"Classified." Why couldn't I have sat in between Shikamaru and Ino instead of these two.

Naruto began his frequent hobby of exploring the inside of his nose with his index finger. Life just keeps getting better and better.

"Right class, everyone is good to go, except Naruto and Sasuke." Our sensei called out, reliving most of us. I hopped down the steps. It appeared I was the last one out. However before I left, I felt a hand on my shoulder and turned to see Iruka's ace. Not creepy at all.

"Ren I would like to congratulate you on your fighting skills, the Hokage will be most please, so far your own your way to offically becoming a Konoha genin." God forbid he does a thumbs up.

"Thanks?" And with that I put my right hand up in the air as a goodbye while walking out. Halfway down the hall I opened my mission scroll.

**RANK: D**

**ASSIGNGED BY: Lord Third Hokage**

**COMMISSIONER: Teuchi Ichiraku**

**DETAILS: On Sunday around 01:00 in the morning the Ichiraku ramen stand was robbed of half of their ingredients as well as 5,000,000 ryo kept in a secret, but easily accessible compartment behind the counter. Teuchi Ichiraku reported to have discovered this on Monday morning(today) at 07:00. And old woman who lived near heard noise coming from the stand at 01:00 which is the suspecting time of the crime. The thief is supposedly a civilian due to the method in which they stole the money and ingredients, being that the ramen stand is not in good condition.**

**MISSION: Find and catch thief alive, do not harm unless necessary. Return the stolen items to Teuchi Ichiraku.**

**REWARD: 40,000 ryo**

**SIGNED: _Hiruzen Sarutobi_**

And of course it's only just then that I realized I left my 'guide' back in the classroom. Despite my incredible memory, buildings have changed in the six years I have been gone, and I only ever traveled down one street and an alleyway. A street that did not contain the Ichiraku Ramen stand.

Turning on my heal I walked back casually to the classroom. I opened the door and leaned against the door frame, not bothering to go further inside. Catching Iruka's and the two academy student's attention, I jabbed a thumb at Naruto.

"Sorry Iruka sensei but I need him. Now."

Stunned the chunin gestured at Naruto. "Naruto? Whatever for?"

Unable to be bothered to explain myself I trudged over and handed him my mission scroll. He took it and read through. "Read what the Hokage has written as a side note in the scroll I gave you this morning about how I'm supposed to be excused from detention when I have one of these." I tapped the mission scroll. I wanted to be as discreet a is possible in front of Sasuke and Naruto.

"And that I can request one of the other students, even if they too are in detention. I need Naruto, Iruka sensei, so if you don't mind..."

Iruka's brow furrowed before his face relaxed again. "Of course. Naruto, you are permitted to leave, but you have to stay with Renata until she relieves you."

Naruto looked caught between confusion and excitement while Sasuke looked furious. Must not want to be the only who got detention. Oh well.

I took both scrolls back and strapped them to my straps underneath my flak jacket.

"Ren, I don't think it's necessary for you to keep that one." He was talking about my academy entry scroll.

"Souvenir." Once again I head out the door only to be stopped by the lack of sound behind me.

"Are you coming or not?" I asked sternly fixing Naruto with my signature glare.

"Yes! Believe it!" He scrambled to his feet, stuck his tongue out at a shocked Sasuke and joined me as we walked down the corridor together, with him placing his hands behind his head and doing that ridiculous swagger of his.

* * *

After about twenty seconds of blessed silence, Naruto couldn't keep his mouth shut anymore.

"Umm...I'm really thankful and all, but how come I got out of detention?" He asked, curiosity getting the better of him. Ren just kept looking ahead with an expressionless face.

"You're quite well acquainted with the whereabouts of Konoha, as well as Ichiraku Ramen are you not?" With the mention of the food stand Naruto's eyes lit up, and if it were possible his smile grew in size. _Yep, he definitely knows_, Ren thought.

"Of course! Ichiraku Ramen makes the best ramen, plus I know everywhere in Konoha, gotta know the streets and all the hiding places if I don't wanna get caught by Iruka-sensei, but what's that go to do with anything?" He asked.

"I just need you to show me where it is. Don't worry, you don't have to go back to school afterwards, I cleared that with our sensei, you help me, and I get you out of doing work after class. It's basically a substitute for detention." I explained.

"AWESOME! Sorry about before ya know, I take back what I said about you. C'mon follow me!" Racing off ahead, Ren inwardly groaned.

"Your supposed to be my guide, not my disobedient dog!" She muttered, but the boy didn't hear her.

Making sure everything was secure in her leather straps this time -these were Kakashi's from when he was younger, so they probably need repairing- the Okami girl ran after the boy, surprised at how fast he was was and almost struggled to keep up.

When she caught up Naruto seemed hardly out of breath and continued to make do with conversation while they were running. Of course it was about ramen;

"Sometimes they put this delicious plant in called menma, but it only grows around certain months of the year...you won't get better ramen elsehwere...Ayumi's really nice though she can be a stubborn pig sometimes...without ramen? I'd rather die...ramen...ramen...ramen."

_SHUT UP!JUST SHUT UP! _Ren thought, using her hands to cover up her ears.

As they continued to run, with Naruto blabbing his head off and the Kumo nin trying desperately to blot it out, Naruto spotted something just fifty meters ahead and ran ahead in pursuit.

"Maybe a 'oh geez Ren, I think I see the ramen stall up ahead, lets walk nice and slow towards it together' would be nice." Ren muttered to herself. Following her classmate she arrived upon the crime scene, watching a stock-still Naruto widen his eyes in surprise. No wonder he was upset, going on about how much he loves ramen, his heart must be tearing to shreds at the sight of this place.

It was a wreck. Half of it was demolished, with the front and side battered in with what looks suspiciously like a baseball bat, though in Ren's opinion, a frying pan would be much more effective. Glass littered the ground, previously containing ramen ingredients and a large sign hung over the stand.

**closed until further notice**

With the covering half torn you could see Ayame, and Teuchi saving what little belonging they had. Stepping over the rubble on the ground in front of her, Ren leaned forwards and knocked politely on the cover. Both Ichiraku's heads snapped upwards, and warily glanced around before the eldest replying.

"Yes?! What is it?!" He snapped. Of course it was understandable he would be on edge after what just happened, so Ren cleared her throat.

"I understand that you have been robbed and the Hokage has given myself the mission of returning the stolen items and catching the thief, if I am permitted I would prefer to look for clues as tot he identity of the thief." Naruto just stood there in utter silence as they waited for confirmation.

"Oh! Of course, I'm sorry, dear where are my manners, my name is Teuchi and this is my daughter Ayame here, we are very grateful to you for doing this service, once we get our earnings returned to us we can pay you your reward." He shook her hand vigorously, so much Ren had a hard time keeping her feet planted on the ground.

"Come inside, come inside." he ushered her in. The nine-tails container only stepped in silently behind her. Immediatly on entering, Ren exchanged greetings and elbowed Naruto into doing the same, though not much to Ren's surprised the civilians already knew the orangutan.

"Right so, the ingredients as well as the money as stolen?" Ren flipped out a small notepad and a pen, and began scribbling furiously down the facts the Ichiraku's confirmed for her. After much investigating inside and around the stand Ren had written several notes.

**Large footprint outside, and inside. Sizes match. Size 12. **

**Black hair strand left on counter. Not dyed.**

**ingredients stolen.**

**substantial amount of money stolen.**

**Lots of damage.**

"Aah, Naruto I almost forgot you were here, you can leave now, go home or play or whatever it is you kids do these days." Ren looked down from her scribbling at the boy beside her, who was worryingly scrunching up his face in defiance. Oh no

"No! I want to help. Without the Ichiraku stand, there would be no ramen, and without ramen I would go crazy, plus I owe it to Teuchi and Ayame, for making such beautiful ramen and always looking out for me and being nice! I don't care about what I get in return, I'm going to help, whether you say so or not! This place is like my childhood and I'm partly responsible for it as Ichiraku's ramen stand's number one customer!" Naruto smiled as he gave them all a big thumbs up.

"How come I'm not surprised."Ren dragged the palm of her hand down her face, before getting into control. She straightened her back and crossed her arms behind her back.

"Naruto!" she barked.

"Yes si-mam!" The boy snapped to attention and saluted.

"If you want to participate then I expect substantial results and for you to do exactly and every I say. Are we clear?" It was like something you would see in the army.

"You can count on me, I won't let you down. Believe it!"

"Good, now I need you to go to the Hokage tower. Ask him to give you the files of unemployed males with the feet size of 12 and who are not above forty. Plus they must have attended the academy at some point, but dropped out before the age of eleven." Ren listed. "Don't forget, oh and tell him Ren sent you."

"Yes!" And with that Naruto scrambled off.

"Forgive me for asking but how do you know so much about the thief?" Ayame asked, confused as to how Rn came across that information.

"Well for one thing, the footprints. They are size twelve which are too large to belong to a woman. Also the hair I found had no grey colouring, showing that the thief was below forty years old. As a shinobi myself, I can sense that a very small quantity of chakra was used, most likely to help destroy the stand. The thief would have excellent chakra control due to the small quantity he had inside him. And they only teach that at the academy. He must have dropped out though, overwise he would not have made such a messy job. Because he took the ingredients as well as the money means he is unemployed because even those with low paying jobs can still afford food."

Ren gulped down the air greedily after explaining to the civilians.

"Oh, please carry on, that was very enlightening."

"Sorry, but that's all I have, I'll continue to search for more evidence, but that should be all I need." The Kumo nin put away her notepad and pen and crawled along the ground hoping for more evidence.

Some time had passed before naruto finally returned. Bundled in his arms were ten files. He looked ready to collapse so Ren snatched the paper from his hands and told him to sit down while they looked through them together.

Three of the ten were bald.

Two had already graying hair while another two had brown hair.

With every one of them she canceled out, Ren handed the file back to Naruto.

All that were remaining were a a particular short man and two others. She started to think out loud. "Hmm...It's possible it wasn't the short man, due to the strikes to the stand being to high for him to make, plus he is quiet overweight and would not be able to perform the task successfully."

She through the file behind her to the left where Naruto had to dive to the ground to catch it.

Eyeing up another she read the details about him. "unemployed, but has a lot of money, why is that- oh. He won a large bet placed on a genin in the chunin exams, so why would he need the money at all? so it must be..."

Another leap through the air rewarded Naruto with the file Ren had just thrown.

"Cayame Hotisashi, you don't know whats coming. Naruto, come on, and put that hair in the plastic pocket, we need it for evidence and later inspection." Ren ordered as she read the address on the file briefly. She launched the file into the air behind her.

Naruto hurriedly tried to think of how he could catch it, both his hands were full. He whimpered and began sweating quickly before coming to a decision. He caught it in his mouth like a dog receives a frisbee.

"Good boy." Ren said.

* * *

With Naruto behind me -trying desperately to hold onto the files as well as the evidence- we leaped from building to building with a certain alleyway in mind. This place I did know, from just reading the sign once when I was six. The same place I had been taken for the first time.

It was a neighborhood that belonged to the scum of Konoha, unpainted buildings with washing lines throwing between them and a few homeless people holding out plastic cups for change. Not to mention the grotty state of the flats. Yep, this was where the sun didn't shine.

As we progressed I became more and more certain that Cayame was the thief. Only the unemployed would be able to afford houses like these.

Nearing number 17, I struck out my right hand, halting both Naruto and myself on top of Number 15. I brought my finger to my lips.

"shhhh"

And we slid down the fire escape like snakes. Well at least I did.

Naruto, more or less fell down.

I guess it was his style.

Fortunately for us only the cats eating out of the bins were disturbed, leaving the street slightly unsettled but not alarmed. Picking Naruto up of the floor I hauled him along with me into the building and up the flight of stairs, not making a sound.

When we reached Door 17, I signaled to Naruto to stand at one side while I did the other. Just as I was about to break the door down, one of my scrolls came loose and clattered down the concrete stairs. I mentally slapped myself in the face.

Okay, from the silence inside, Cayame probably thought it was nothing. Though I'm sure he won't think the cat I had just disturbed with the scroll attacking the people out side his door was nothing. That's right. Naruto was the first to yell out as this scary looking cat appeared out of nowhere and attacked his face. I would have found it funny had I not been trying to quiet him down and protect myself at the same time.

For some reason cats also didn't like me, in fact they hated me. So when it realized I was there it switched targets and leaped onto me. While all this was happening I could hear Cayame trying to get away, most likely out the window. Cats must he like alarm systems in this neighborhood.

"Dammit!" I muttered, restriction the cat from ripping my eyes out, so instead it tore my mask to shreds. Well that's better than being covered in scratches like Naruto who was tending to his wounds.

"Hey! Squirt!" I yelped in between breathes. " Help me get this thing off my face!". Naruto perked up and grabbed the cat around the waist. it ended up like a tug of war match; The cat cling onto me with all four sets of claws and Naruto leaning back and using a lot of his strength in order to rescue me. I really wish there was an extra person there so they could take a picture, because this was one moment I wouldn't mind waking up to everyday.

Funnily enough, I think I had a camera in my pocket, which cave me an idea. Without looking I set the settings to flash and took a picture of the scene, my arm outstretched. The flashed dazed the cat -possibly Naruto too- and the orange clad kid managed to pull it from me, with my mask hanging in it's claws.

"GO!" Naruto shouted dramatically. I nodded in response and broke down the door. The first thing I felt was a draft which led me to believe he had escaped through the window. Searching through the three rooms I found one of the windows wide open with he curtain blowing this way and that way. Looking around and out of the window, I assessed the situation. It does not fit well with me to go blundering in blindly.

He must have used a ladder because I can see his shadow running down one side of the street and it looked strangely elongated, plus there was nothing else he could have used that wouldn't have left anything behind for his pursuer to also use.

Muttering to myself angrily after noticing he had also discarded all clothing and sheets - I was planning to use them the old-fashioned way of tying them together to make a rope- I took out my left handed and right handed swords. Walking backwards towards the windowsill and climbed out, keeping my front facing the door. I slid downwards and dug my swords into the concrete. Just as I expected the material was cheap and had a lot of weaknesses, making it easier for my swords to cut through and hold my weight as I clambered down.

Hoping Naruto could handle himself, I hit the ground running, placing my swords firmly back into my leather straps while I did so. I just caught the man's shadow disappearing around the corner into the maze of alleyways. I followed in pursuit at my top speed.

Rounding the corner I skidded to keep myself balanced and carried on running. This man was fast, an didn't do something soon I would lose him. He would be away with he money, living in some other country. Thinking fast I dug into the deep pockets in my trackies, pulling out a thing length of rope and took two metal balls out from one of the secure pockets in my flak jackets.

"I told you these would come in handy someday, Yugito sensei." I said to myself. I tied the balls together with he rope(they had a little loop on each ball), even with my eyes on the thief, I could do it well just from memory. When that part was done, I started swinging the weapon over my head to gain momentum before releasing it into the air. This was where my strength came in handy. And thank god for ninja training.

The weapons caught around the ankles of the thief, wrapping his legs tightly together and tripping him up, so he face-planted the floor.

He looked like he wasn't getting up anytime soon, so I slowed to a jog, catching my breath as I neared him. He looked in his early twenties, and definitely not well looked after. He had bags under his eyes and his hair was unkept, and considering the large bag suspiciously filled with a lot of money, there was no doubt this was the thief.

I crouched to sit down on his lower back and untied his legs to use the rope for keeping his wrists tightly together.

"Cayame, you have officially been caught by Renata Namikaze. Do you have anything to say for yourself?" I couldn't help but rub it in.

The man just grunted. Hauling him up to his feet, he thought he could take advantage of a twelve year girl and tried to get free by striking out. I blocked it and rewarded him with a punch to his gut. He doubled over, and I had to let him lean on me while we walked towards the main street.

Once we had crossed out of the alleyway, I made him walked in front of me, his hands still tied behind his back, with me holding the end of the rope and my other hand gripping the rope that held his wrists together.

People stopped and stared as they watched someone who had been brought in as a prisoner just the day before, holding a criminal and taking him to prison. The sight was unusual, but a few civilians, mostly children congratulated me. I waved them off in thanks and continued my task.

The man in front of me stopped struggling as soon as we stepped into the Hokage's office, as if giving up. I would too if I were him, the Hokage was far too powerful to let a petty thief escape.

Speaking of the Leader of Konoha, Sarutobi raised his head slowly, and his eyes met with mine. One eyebrow raised as he also took in Cayame's figure.

"That was...faster than I expected." He stroked his beard. "This is the thief I presume?"

"Yes sir, his name is Cayame Hotisashi, I have evidence against him including that he tried to escape with a bag with exactly five million ryo inside. Not to mention I found a hair at the scene of the crime and if examined it can be determined it is one of his." I tightened my hold on my prisoner.

"Very well." The Hokage sat back. "Take him captive."

immediately four ANBU appeared beside me and I stepped back in shock. No wonder these guys were elite. Being a ninja myself, though a very low-ranked one, that was one of the fastest I have ever seen anybody move, or rather hadn't seen them move.

They waited for me to let go and and once I did they seized the man and vanished in a puff of smoke.

Coughing caught my attention. " I really wish they didn't do that. it's bad for my lungs." hiruzen smiled. He whisked away the smoke and continued to hold my gaze.

"Well done. I have your reward here. The Ichiraku's said to take it out of the money you got back from the thief. Now all mission rewards are split between the members equally while another amount goes towards the village and ninja system such as myself, the academy and weapons." I absorbed the information

"Money going to the village and the ninja system depends on the sum of the reward and the amount of ninja that completed the task. Under these circumstances, you will receive 16,000 ryo, 40 percent of the reward."

I bowed my head in understanding, It's not as if there were money trees in the academy, plus the kids get a free education and someone needs to pay the teachers and buy the equipment. Anyway 16,000 was still a lot of money and would do me well for the time being. rent was only 800 ryo a week so I could save up my money, and continue to do more missions.

We exchange the money and evidence. "Thank you lord Hokage, I hope I have proved some loyalty to Konoha and I will continue to do so in the future." I excused myself and turned to leave. Not a moment too late the Hokage shouted out.

"Ren I don't suppose I could have my files back from the little trouble maker? Where is Naruto by the way?"

"Crap."

* * *

**hehe looks like someone forgot a certain blonde-haired boy.**

**by the way if you want to know what she looks like I drew/ traced a pictured of her, theres a link in my profile I forgot to ****add the scar, oh well**

**Okami out ~**


	5. Chapter 5 Jokes are supposed to be funny

**Sorry to those who read this, it's been a VERY long time because well unfortunately and annoyingly, my sister had been taking the laptop with her into the bathroom while she showered to listen to music and did not open the window because she's a fucking idiot. Excuse my language. Thus condensation and what not, so the keyboard does not work efficiently with only five keys working and I've had to use an online keyboard instead. And I seriously cannot write 10,000 words with a shitty keyboard or the online one. Fortunately mum - the only one who has any sense in this family- bought another laptop which she hasn't permitted for anyone to use the last few weeks because she's afraid we'd break it, and she's really anal about it, even though I didn't do anything, and mary's(sis) the one who broke the past three laptops, and I'm the one who has repeatedly fixed most problems on the laptops. And yet she doesn't trust me...UNTIL NOW! FUCK YES BITCHES (sorry again). The only good thing that came out of it was that mum let me have the old laptop- provided I pay the £50 needed to get it checked out . And that is your explanation.**

**Plus I want to say thank you to all the reviewers(I'll name you all in the next one)**

_**oh and heres a key :**_

_Thoughts inside someone's head_

**_Conscience _**(you know that little voice inside your head, as if you've got someone trapped there. NO! it's not the same as thought. Anyway and when someone hears it, they react to it in an instant, so it's kind of like instinct too, no..wait..it's instinct to react to it, yep there we go. This is very important because it is actually something more, for now you will know it as conscience or maybe the 'voice inside someones head'.

" _emphasis_ on a word." (you can distinguish it between thought if there is one word in italics in a sentence where all the other words are normal font, and also if it is in speech, like i just did there. Now you are stupidper, because i probably gave you the wrong explanation.

SHOUTING! (because talking normally is not good enough for some people)

**Writing in books, scrolls, sign posts and more. (and also my little intro's)**

**"Tailed beast speech" **coz who wouldn't give them their own font. I mean c'mon! They have this massive booming voice and they're not shouting, this is more than appropriate, don't get confused with the one above, this one had speech..thingies(this is why i fail at english. Scottish kids should not be made to do such a language! It is against our will... and our fight to** FREEDOM! **see how i used both shouting and tailed beast speech, because seriously. Scots are made of some tough shit. :P

* * *

After making a hasty getaway by simply - and falsely- implying she needed to go to the toilet immediately, Ren hurried back the way she'd come in order to find a certain orange ball of energy. She ducked her head while running through the dodgy neighborhood, god knows what could happen if she looked the wrong person in the eye. Plus this was similar to the area she was abducted from six years ago. Not to mention the stupid cat tore off her mask.

Constantly checking behind her, in fear of anyone following her and as of habit, she made her way into the building both she and Naruto had sneaked into. It took her little time to reach the floor where the cat had attacked them. Traces of a skirmish were very visible to Ren. Small scraps of orange material lay strewn across the floor, almost distracting her from the tufts of fur that had been blown into the corners by the ever so slight breeze.

Naruto sat on his bottom in the corner of the platform between the wall and the railing which has prevented many accidents and deaths. He rested his folded arms on the knees that had been brought up to his chest, with his head, face down ducking below in between his forearms and chest.

For some reason Ren felt compelled to wrap her arms around him and whisper things like "it's going to be okay." The boy looked so lonely. Silently she shook her head to clear those silly thoughts. _There's no point bringing yourself down with him, shinobi are supposed to be strong, and if he can't make it, it doesn't mean I can't either._

To avoid herself feeling that way once more she looked the other way before waking him up.

"Naruto, get up."

* * *

Naruto tore at the cats fur in a desperate effort to get rid of the mangy animal. Unfortunately the cat had the same thought because before long Naruto's precious jumpsuit had many although not entirely noticeable tears in it.

Still, he kept hold of Ren's mask and refused to let go. After all after being inside her home, the boy knew she has very little possessions and he himself would never let his jumpsuit get taken without a fight. However, that cat has some nasty claws.

"Come on kitty kitty, let go...let go...JUST LET GO YOU STUPID...YOU..YOU..PIECE OF...POO!" And the insults continued. Naruto varied between soft begging and shouting the ears off the cat.

It was at that moment that a dog barked somewhere outside. The cat, no matter what courage it possessed before, disappeared instantly from sight. And poor Naruto fell back from the force hitting his head hard on the wall behind, before falling into unconsciousness.

"Naruto, get up." A cold icy voice sliced into his mind and Naruto opened his eyes to see the cat leaning against the railing and standing on two legs. But that wasn't all. The thing seemed to have grown to human size. Still not realizing he was only half-awake and still dreaming, Naruto's eyes widened into shock as he pointed at the cat, his whole arm shaking.

"Y-you can't have it! But...um.. please don't hurt me." The cat glared and hissed at him.

"Please don't take it" Naruto pleaded as he slowly rose. "Good pussycat, no more scratches, I'm sure pussycat would like a pat." The cat changed it's stance and was now standing straight on two legs with it's arms crossed.

Naruto, forever naive started to pet the cat on it's head while trying to slip around it in order to run for it. He then proceeded to scratch the cats chin. It did not look amused. Thinking the cat preferred the head, he began stroking it's long brown hair- wait a second- long brown hair?

The dream vanished and Naruto's mind only just registered what it was doing. His arm lay stretched out in front of him. His hand lay in the middle of affectionately stroking a very, very angry young girls now tangled hair, strands interlocked with his fingers.

If looks could kill...

"Eeep!"Naruto hastily snatched his hand away. They stood there for a few moments, Ren letting the fear sink in. Desperately trying to distract her, Naruto searched his pockets thoroughly before presenting the girl of impending doom with a shredded tattered blue cloth.

"Look! I.. um saved your mask!"

* * *

He had about three second left before I went for him. Lucky for Naruto I couldn't believe what was happening I was so shocked I didn't act when he started stroking me cooing "kitty,kitty, good pussycat."

It was already dark and because there was no lights he couldn't see my face. But I could see his, and believe me, 'scratched' doesn't even cover it. The same marks littered any skin visible, yet they didn't prevent the kid from smiling like an idiot while he held out the remains from my mask. And just as I was about to stick my trainer where the sun doesn't shine, it hit me.

He risked getting hurt, no matter the size of the injury, to save something that he deemed was precious to me. Silence filled the air and I could feel the shape of my eyes relax into thier original half moon shape(curved at the bottom and straight at the top), however rare that was, they would soon snap back to their hostile glare.

It suddenly dawned on me then that not everyone was my enemy. Sure the cloud took me in, but they never portrayed any kindness towards me. I've known that all along. They just wanted to use my power and skill, and though I suppose I felt closer to Yugito and Killer B, they would never go out of their way to do what Naruto just did, not in a million years.

_Why am I reading so much into this?! It's just a mask, who cares if he saved it! This doesn't mean anything to me! _I almost slapped myself in the face before deciding against it.

_Rule number two : Don't trust anyone. The whole world is your enemy, no matter how kind they seem. Generosity is often a disguise of deceitfulness._

"Rule...what?!" Without even noticing it seems I had spoken out loud due to Naruto's quizzical look. Prying the torn up mask from his fingers I inspected the many tears and holes it bore.

"Nothing, forget it." Should I thank him? No, it was just a mask, not even worth thinking about, let alone mentioning. " Come on, lets go back."

"What about 'whatshisface', did you catch him?" Naruto's eyes glistened with curiosity, though for some reason I saw disappointment in his expression after I took my mask back without saying a word.

"Naruto," I sighed, shielding my face. "Where do you think I'd be if I hadn't?"

"In prison?"

Glare.

"...in Kumo's prison?"

Death glare.

"Okay, Okay! Not here, I guess, don't have to get all scary on me." I nodded my agreement before storing the mask in my pocket. Binning it while in the presence of Naruto would surely break his feeble heart.

"Yeah I managed to catch him, and the Hokage paid me 16,000 ryo, or something." I explained showing him the envelope, again feeling a lot more relaxed.

"Wow that's a lot! I can't wait-" The orange-clad stopped himself raising an eyebrow at me. Did I say something weird?

"What?!" He continued to look at me, strangely so that terror began to rise in my stomach. "What is it! Are my clothes wet?! Is there a puddle behind me that you're not telling me about!" I worriedly shouted at him while glancing with caution from side to side, continuing to back up against the wall.

"hahahaha! I thought you were tough and cool and brave, but you're nothing but a girly girl who's scared of getting her clothes wet! I betcha scared of bugs too! And snakes and spiders!" Naruto was clutching his sides laughing, and I could tell I looked like a frightened rabbit.

But in truth, right now I just feel silly.

"I am NOT a girly-girly!" I huffed, crossing my arms. Okay, now I was acting really childish. How could this orange buffoon possibility lower my mental age by at least four years after only one day. I prided myself on being more mature, unfortunately ,that's not the case.

"Are too! You can't deceive me with your _sasuke-like_ outer shell, inside, all there is, is a little girl, covered in pink and screaming at anything that pops out."

I was on the verge of shouting "No! Stop it!" while covering up my ears, but something he said triggered my more mature self once more.

"I. Don't. Scream." Even I was surprised about how cold I sounded then.

And the effects were marvelous. Naruto's face drained colour before returning to it's normal hue, after putting his hands up -almost in a 'jazz hands' fashion- and smiling in an apologetic manner.

" 'Course you don't! I was just pulling your tail, no need to get your panties in a twis- I Uh mean...you probably don't wear panties, because you are not _girly_ AT ALL!" He was nervous now, and that comment really pissed me off. He could see it. "Wait! I'm sure you wear...uh...boxers or other none girly products am I right...uh...mate?"

I may not scream, or I may not be a girly-girl, but that does certainly not mean I act and am boyish with everything.

And this time I really did go for him.

Let's just say that, that shiner, twisted ankle, large bruise on his back didn't just get there on their own.

* * *

"Here." Ren said, pressing a see-through bag of ice cubs against Naruto's left eye. He winced at the pain, but soon sighed in relief. Unfortunately the boy didn't understand that after a few seconds of Ren holding it against his face, he should be taking her hands place with his own. Naruto didn't pay any attention to the annoyed expression covering her face and the tapping of her right foot against the ground, as well as her left hand on her hip, clearly impatiently waiting.

"Oh right! You want _me_ to hold it?" She mentally face-palmed. She thrust the bag further into his face as a response and he yelped in pain. Good, that'll teach him.

After an hour of a thorough beating and chasing him around the apartment building yelling " If I had a frying pan right now, you'd be breakfast, Kiddo!" and him yelling "Stop calling me 'kiddo'! We're the same age!" She helped him back home. And the moment she opened his freezer and cupboards, her heart dropped. No ice cubs, no first aid. Not only that but it appeared his apartment had been burgled, and his mattress stabbed several times.

When she asked him about it he would flick his wrist and only replied. "Don't worry about it, I'll get it fixed tomorrow." As if this was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact this has been Naruto's third break-in of the season and he was surprised the criminals had not done any more damage. He shrugged it off as if it was nothing

However feeling guilty that this was somehow her fault, due to taking him away to help her on a mission and therefore leaving his home unprotected for vandalisation Ren offered him a temporary solution.

"Look, you can't spend the night here, Your lock is completely buggered, you have no resources to take care of your bruises, plus with you injuries, not matter how minor how could you possibly sleep on the floor."

"Where the hell am I gonna sleep then?!" Naruto had thrown up his arms in exasperation.

"With me,"After an uncomfortable silence she added, " After all you are my responsibility after, inflicting pain on you, plus I have a first aid kit, ice and a very much intact bed, don't mind me, I'll just sleep on the floor." She shuffling uncomfortably and looking down at the ground, Naruto almost couldn't hear her because she was grumbling.

And boy was he shocked, and slightly overwhelmed. Yes he had been shown kindness, despite it being rare and sometimes a good deal bigger than this, however this was coming from someone who was almost the girl version of sasuke, which he had only known for about a day, whom he was beginning to get along with, even the bashing his brains in part was somewhat comically fun and Naruto remembered laughing as he eluded her once more before getting a face full of her fist, for which she had yowled triumphantly, much like a warrior whom had just won their first battle, and though she didn't smile, Naruto could tell she was enjoying herself, very much so. It almost felt like they were playing a game but sparring at the same time.

He had followed her outside like he was in a dream. The girl had fiddled for her keys for a moment, and yet when she had them she paused only for about a second, but Naruto saw it. Alarm and then a slight bit of irritation ate away at her eyes. She sighed and unlocked the door. Tonight was unusually cold, making Ren's breath visible, almost like a cloud of smoke.

Naruto resisted the temptation to face the sky and walking around while breathing heavily into the air yelling "Chuck-ka-chuck-ka-chuck-ka- choo choo!". He didn't need to ruin the moment by being himself. But still it doesn't hurt to be himself a little bit.

"Hey Ren! Look I'm smoking!"

Naruto heard her groan before turning her back on him. _Oh well, I'm sure Sakura would laugh_, he thought oblivious to what her actual reaction would be.

They walked into her apartment, Naruto on the alert for any frying pan booby traps, and Ren inspecting almost every minuscule detail in her apartment, which she would stop herself once ever four or five seconds and mumble to herself. Naruto gave her a quizzical look and he had doubts about her sanity until she pulled out at chair near the table.

"Sit." Naruto shivered at he sat down

"Why is it so cold in here?" He hugged himself and rubbed his arms.

"Central heating systems on the brink, and my apartment gets the worst of it, or so I've been told. Though I've drawn up a more correct answer; It doesn't work in this room and it hasn't for some time."

"Great, I probably should have stayed I where I was." Naruto mumbled.

"What was that?"

"I was just saying how grateful I am!" he called back.

And that's how they got to where they were now. Ren pulled another wooden chair out from under the table and propped it up against the cupboards. She climbed aboard in order to reach a very high up shelf. Naruto struggled to see what she carried when she returned, but recognized the tell-tale green box when she blew of most of the dust with her breath.

"emm... Ren?"

"hmmm?" She opened the box searching a cotton ball to wipe clean the scratches on his face and arms.

"If I'm gonna sleep on the bed, where are you going to sleep?" He couldn't see any other furniture besides the bed, wooden table and the two wooden chairs.

"On the floor. I already said that earlier." Naruto saw her run a few cotton balls under the tap and filling up a glass of water. "Now hold still, this might sting a little bit, so just bare with me."

"haha...bear." Ren gave an annoyed expression. Crouching down, she lowered herself to his level and started dabbing at his cheek, wiping away at the dirt over his scratches. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Naruto trying to look everywhere but her.

Naruto starter blushing the moment she leaned in closer, their faces only about an inch apart, although Ren was gripping his head and hair harshly turning his face slightly sideways to get a better look at his cheek. This is the closest he's ever been to a girl that didn't involve accidental shoving or the girl beating the living daylights out of him, cough Sakura, cough. Feeling awkward he resisted looking at her and instead focused on the fridge or the window.

He could tell Ren was too oblivious to noticed what he was feeling. She was deep in concentration, her eyes narrowed and her lips in a straight firm line. _Lips...so close. _Naruto thought as he slowly turned his to face her eyes_. I don't think I'd be able to control myself if it was Sakura instead of Ren_

"Naruto stop grinning like an idiot and put your head back to where it was!"Ren barked, the moment was ruined and Naruto with round eyes did as he was ordered. Naruto suddenly jerked when he heard Ren gasp.

"Your scratches and cuts are already sealed up and healing, kiddo. That's weird, I'm positive they would be infected form all the muck covering your face." Ren retracted her hand.

The boy scratched his head with one finger. "Yeah, I've always been a fast healer, and I've got a pretty awesome immune system!Believe it!" and thats when he realized it.

"Hey Ren, guess what?"

"What?" She groaned.

"I can see you face.

silence

The girl stiffened.

"Go get your pajamas, now."

Naruto scurried out of the room as fast as his legs could carry him. The funny thing is, was that he's only looked at her mouth and into her eyes, after all both were very mesmerizing, and though he snickered when he thought how shocked she looked, it was not worth the risk staying in the room to mentally torture her further. The tone of her voice had said it all.

Opening his door he couldn't help but feel disappointed at seeing the state of his home once more. At least his ramen stash was safe. He thanked God, and then continued his search for his pajamas. After looking under the pillows strewn on across the floor he found the tattered remains of his bottoms and top, fortunately his panda hat survived.

"Aww man, it's too cold to sleep in just pants." Naruto whined to himself (remember in Britain, we refer boxers and knickers as pants, and say trousers or bottoms or shorts or whatnot instead of pants) but he could find nothing else that was suitable. Feeling sad he trudged with his head low back towards the door, however before he left something caught his eye. There on the clothes hook hung a deep red plain scarf.

Taking it in his hands Naruto saw it was quite wide and very sturdy, unlikely to unravel or tear with no tassels on the end, plus being so tightly thread when Naruto wrapped it around his neck loosely that it didn't collapse and covered at least his lips and the bottom of his nose. Taking it off, a light bulb appeared above his head.

"Perfect."

He headed back to Ren's apartment carrying his hat and the scarf. He found her ruffling madly through the drawers, possibly searching for something to cover her face.

"Here." he said loud and clear, revealing the scarf and handing it out to her. Ren immediately stopped what she was doing before looking over her shoulder, careful not to show anymore than her eyes or forehead.

"Look, I've had this thing for years, I used to wear it all the time, but I haven't worn it in a while, and you'd probably put it to better use, so...have it." Naruto reasoned, shrugging his shoulders. He silently chuckled to himself at the sight of Ren trying to walk towards and take the scarf without him seeing her face. It reminded him vaguely of a movie he saw.

"I guess that's your new precious, eh smeagol?" Naruto grinned.

"What?" Ren raised her eyebrow confused. She had wrapped the scarf around her neck and lower face until there was nothing left to wrap and stuck a curby grip at the back to keep it in place.

"You don't get out much do you?"

Glare.

"Okay, no need to get antsy, just a little joke."

"Jokes are supposed to be funny."

"Well I don't see you making any."

"Naruto."

"What?"

"That was my joke."

"..."

_Wait for it..._ Ren thought

Naruto pulled a face. "My names not funny!"

"That wasn't what it's supposed to... never mind." Ren waved a hand as she turned away. The part of the room where the bedroom area is, the floor is raised about 15 cm, so as to separate it form the kitchen, considering it was open planned, and in the dark Ren nearly tripped up over the step.

"There should really be a sign." She grumbled. While Naruto had gone back to his apartment, she had got changed into her pajamas. Naruto watched as she sat down on the floor just beside the bed on a very thin, very worn down old rug. Bring her knees up to her chest, the twelve year old crossed her arms slightly on the floor to the side and lay down her head. She closed her eyes.

Taking that as a signal to go to bed, Naruto stripped down to his boxer shorts and gingerly stepped over Ren. However in the process of doing so, Ren mumbled.

"You don't really think outside the box, next time - and hopefully there isn't one- go around, I'd rather not have you stepping on me if you have misjudged your stride."

Grumbling his agreement, Naruto climbed into bed, lay on his back with his hands behind his head and tried to fall into the deep slumber of sleep. As much as he wanted it though, sleep wouldn't come. He pulled his quilt tighter, still feeling the cold, even though he was slowly warming up. Good thing he had had his socks on before when walking around her apartment, that wooden floor was bound to feel like ice.

At that thought the boy rolled over onto his side, facing the kitchen. He could just make out Ren on the floor. She was shivering. Badly. In the short time he had known her, Naruto saw her as the 'never let on how weak you are' type, and this is her, trying to hold it back. Instantly he felt guilty, even if it was _her_ who had offered him the bed.

He couldn't stop watching her, and it grew too much when he heard chattering teeth. _How was she supposed to train tomorrow if she never got any sleep due to the cold. Right that's it._

Naruto tossed the covers to the side and leapt off the bed. He could see Ren's eyelids flickering. She's pretending. Time to put my chakra training to the test. Building up as much chakra as he could muster, Naruto slipped his arms underneath Ren's body, who eye's immediatly shot open.

"What are you doing." It seemed more of a threat than a question. Naruto lifted her from the ground and gently placed her on the side of the bed against the window. He was surprised she let him do it.

" A baby could see how cold you were, plus the beds big enough for the both of us, no point in one of us getting frozen to death." A small blush appeared on his cheeks, though Ren took no notice. She scowled and quickly faced the window, her hand catching the corner of the quilt and wrapping that part of it around her.r

"You could have just said so."

Naruto climbed in after her and snorted.

"You wouldn't have let me."

"...Don't act like you know me."

"It's a bit late for that." He said covering himself up with the other half of the quilt. He felt slightly embarrassed and faced the other way, but couldn't get comfortable. He tossed and turned, moving this way and that.

"Will you stop moving!" Ren hissed over her shoulder.

"Your beds too weird, I don't feel right in this position..." Naruto carried on.

"OW! You just elbowed me, just sto-" Ren cut herself off as she glanced over at him, he had kicked all the covers off himself.

"Naruto...where are your clothes."

"They were ripped up too."

"Why the hell didn't you tell me! Now I feel uncomfortable too!"

"Hey not as much as me!Believe it. Also you would be freezing on the floor if you knew, ya know."

She kicked him.

"Hey! What was that for?!"

"For being an idiot, you're going to be far colder than you would have been if you'd just worn your jumpsuit."

"Well I can't do that now can I?!"

"Why not!"

"_Because_, now I'm finally comfy."

"You've gotta be kidding me." Ren hissed. Naruto in what looked like the most awkward position, was spread out much like a starfish, one leg hovered just above the floor, the bed being to small for more space, while the other was lying on top of Ren. His right arm was tucked underneath his neck with his elbow jutting out while the other(on Rens side) Rested on it's elbow above his head, going straight up in the air with his hand flopped over.

"Na night." Naruto yawned before closing his eyes. "Don't let the ninja dogs bite."

Ren also yawned, but it got blown back in her face. Sometimes it was nice not wearing a mask. "Night." She felt her eyelids droop. "Naruto...thanks for the scarf." And for once in her life she fell into a deep sleep.

"You're welcome." he whispered back. A few minutes passed, the kyuubi container was still awake, contemplating life when Ren rolled over to face him. Her scarf had dropped slightly and just before Naruto closed his own eyes once more he saw something he had never seen or had never thought he would see.

She was smiling.

* * *

Darkness suddenly swallowed me and spat me out into what looked like a sewer system but not quite. Instead of waste there was about ten centimeters of water, pipes on the ceiling with leaks produced it. The walls were made of smooth stone and there were many passageways leading to unknown destinations.

Confused I stood up, only to find the lighting was no better. It was unusually dark.

_Strange. It doesn't seem like a dream, however that last I remember was thanking Naruto before closing my eyes and bam! Here I am. Was I kidnapped again? Put in this hellhole, or maybe they're playing mind tricks on me, waiting for me to crack like he __did. They'll let me search the endless corridors which will all supposedly only lead to dead-ends._ I thought, getting more and more distressed.

_Stop it. Now is not the time. Stop overthinking things_. I breathed deeply to calm myself down, lifting my hands up and down slowly. And thats when I noticed it.

Red markings laced the skin on my hand. The markings were sort of shiny, almost metallic-looking. (like when Tsunade's yin seal is released, but red instead of purple) They were in the form of a very familiar shape that Ren had seen once...

"What the hell is going on?" I whispered, inspecting the palm of my skin to see if the marking spread. Which it did not. However.

My palm suddenly glowed slightly, a silvery yellow colour. I could feel something gathering in the palm, some type of energy. And thats when I saw it. Thin, clear wisps of white gold colour, slightly wavy, rose from the middle of my palm, almost like a few detached, leafless plant growing in fast-motion. The wisps gathered two inches above my hand, before swirling into a small tight ball of light, the glow it emitted so strong it appeared the size of an orange, however in actuality it was similar to that of a satsuma. (me and my fruits)

It hovered there, just floating. But what's strange is, it seemed full of life due to the slight up and down movement and chirping noise, almost like a mini chidori. Curious, and slightly scared, I brought it up near my face inspecting every inch of it. It started pulsing. Like a heart. From the shock I suddenly took a step back. Fearing I'd let it drop I was shocked to see it still there.

The surroundings since it formed grew much brighter, and I deduced the buildings colour of a dull yellow. I started walking forwards, no idea where my feet were taking me, eyes still concentrated on the orb of light.

"Just what are you?" I questioned, not expecting an answer. The thing suddenly moved slowly off my hand to hover in the air in front of me breifly, before taking off, in a different direction. Does it want me to follow it?

Before I knew it I started running, the water didn't unnerve me here; the moment it touched my clothes or skin, it evaporated with no steam resulting. It wasn't just that. It was almost like a dark mist was shadowing my mind, where my body had more control...like a dream. And yet, not like a dream. I just know I should follow the light, and maybe it will lead me out of this darkness which is possibly clouding my mind.

The light glow gained speed once we rounded a corner, reaching out my hand, I shouted after it. "WAIT!" but either it was ignoring me or could not hear me. I opted for the latter, surely the thing couldn't hear me? I mean, it wasn't really alive. Wasn't it?

Water splashed even more so as I increased my pace, balling my hands into fist's and using my arms, unlike those idiots who run with them trailing them. Do they really think that helps you go faster. I never noticed it before but the red markings also had a slight glow to them, in all honesty...they looked pretty cool. But I'm sure I've seen them before back when...

The life-light stopped, just ahead of me further down the path. I skidded to a stop next to it and turning realising it was another doorway. This time it was different, instead of another corridor, it opened out into a very large room. Although the back wall was completely shadowed in darknees the rest of the room was dimly lit, saving me the trouble of walking into something.

The life-light hovered beside me for a moment before zooming off once again, however instead of moving on, it floated towards the center of the room.

"HEY! Where are you going-" My breath was caught in my throat. My heart dropped, and my eyes easily widened into a large half-moon shape. I could already feel my fists shaking, clenching them so hard, my blunt nails drew blood from my palms. The life-light was hovering above a boy, face-down, floating in the water in the middle of the room.

A boy with spiky blonde hair, who sported green goggles.

"NARUTO!"

I dashed forwards uncaring of my step, which soon resulting in me tripping and falling, rolling forwards several times, before I stopped. Right beside the orange-clad boy. The life-light was there, making noises, but I couldn't care less. I slipped my hands into the water, turned him over and cradled the upper half of his body in my arms, swaying softly. No response.

I glimpsed at his face. Empty. Eye's closed, mouth slightly ajar, and cold, he was so cold. Burns littered the skin on his left hand. He looked...lifeless.

**_Renata Namikaze._** A voice, a calming filling and kind voice. But it's different. I don't hear it through my ears, but echoing in my mind.

My hands dropped to my sides, and Naruto fell back into the water suddenly. Flashbacks of bloody bodies,lying in debris rushed through my head as well as the metallic taste of blood. So many things that I've gotten over. Or so I thought.

**_You must protect him with all your might. You are both so similar. Stay by his side. _**

This unwanted emotion of sadness, guilt and utter hollowness, was so out of character and unknown for me. I've just had so much death around my life. I thought I would be used to it by now. I guess that wasn't the case, or maybe it's different this time. Maybe he's supposed to be my responsibility, it could be fate.

**_Keep him safe from the evil inside him, and not just him, but all of us have darkness inside. His is just more malicious. Both your parents would be proud of how you've done in this life. Protect your family, only you have the power to._**

_My parents?_

**_All of them_**

Listen to me, haha..fate, that's not something I usually believe in. But...He has no friends, no guardians, no one to look after him, and no family. But wait thats not right. He's and Uzumaki isn't he. So he's my family, maybe my last living relative, hell we might not even be related, but my dad...my biological father was an Uzumaki...I've had the chance to know what family's like, to know that they will protect you with their lives, and vice versa. From what I've seen so far, he hasn't. So I'll protect him, It's my duty after all, as the oldest.

"With my life, I'll promise protect him. I swear."

But it's too late. He's already gone.

And then the Life-light started to press down onto Naruto's chest, where his heart would be.

"NO! Don't do that!" I yelled. It continued pressing until it slowly began to slip into his body. I watched with round eyes as the life-light disappeared under Naruto's skin, I couldn't see anything, so I hastily unzipped his jacket and saw a faint glow beneath his skin. And there the Life-Light was beating where his heart should be.

The colour returned to his face and the life-light dissolved, leaving us in utter darkness.

_**I know you'll do the right thing. It takes a Guardian to know one.**_

* * *

Beep Beep...Beep...beep.

Ren's eyes opened with such ferocity, her eyelids strained. Immediately she shut off her alarm on her watch and glanced right.

"Naruto..." He was safe. Thank god. What a strange dream that was, and yet...she had full control of her actions in that room. So why did she feel so compelled to answer to that voice the answer it wanted to hear? But everything that happened, she knew it was all real; those feelings. Why did she act like that. She glanced over to him. _Did he really mean that much to me. I guess he was my first real friend when I was younger...despite only knowing him for a day. _

_But that still leaves a few things unanswered. I had felt that energy before. It must be what the use of chakra feels like. And why was I so shocked to see those red markings on my hands? I mean Yes I have no idea what the life-light was, thats new. However with the markings it was almost Deja Vu, reliving a moment in the past, a year ago, just after I had broken free of that awful place. _

Ren fiddled with her hands. She never takes the gloves off, even while in bed.

"It'd be best not to think about it too much, and easier to forget about it." Ren whispered to herself. _But I made an oath of some sorts, and I was fully aware. God dammit!_ She shivered. Oh great. Naruto was a cover hogger. I can analyze the dream later, at least there's an upside to those headaches.

And now the real challenge was getting out of bed without waking him, or maybe just getting out of bed. He didn't look that easy to wake. Especially since his arms and legs weren't just tangled in the sheet, they were tangled around her too, with his mouth drooling right beside her face.

Ren shuffled out of his tight grip- which had only gotten tighter when she tried the first time- and almost accidently pushed him off the bed. All in all, she ended up shoving his face with her foot, trying to close his mouth several times to stop the drool from reaching the pillow, but failed epically and almost pulling down his boxer shorts as she struggled to get her arms loose.

Finally free she proceeded to clamber over him, her leg swung over his body first, her back in an upright position and her hands on his chest to keep her balance so that she could slip off easily. Her watch suddenly beeping didn't help. Naruto eyes shot open, his body jumped for a second making Ren lose her balance and fall on him. He shrieked.

_ Ah thats right I forgot, me kicking him before meant I pushed him to the edge of the bed_. They shared a frightened look as they both tumbled to the floor. _And of course he had to wrap his arms around my back for safety pressing me to him so that he landed on something soft. Me._

Thin clouds of dust flew up, making them both cough and when it cleared Ren found out why her body was hurting so badly. Naruto was directly on top of her, not a bruise on him, releasing his arms and blushing at their position. His hands now were holding him up, pressed against the floor on either side of her shoulders, while he almost sat on her hips. His nose was almost touching hers and-

Death glare.

Naruto's eyes widened for a second, taking on the impression of a frightened rabbit. He scurried out of there so fast, he hardly changed his pace to grab his jumpsuit.

Ren sighed. How was she supposed to protect such an idiot?! But either way, she still had to get ready for class.

* * *

An hour passed. Dressed, her forehead protector where it should be and her hair all bandaged up. She was quite surprised Naruto hand't yet questioned her on her forehead protector, then again the more she thought about it, it became more and more believible. Even so, only two kids at the academy had picked up on it.

"I guess most of them were busy talking to their friends, after all they had just finished a two week holiday and most likely wanted to catch up."

Her stomach growled.

"That's right I haven't eaten since...that pocky stick on that tree half a mile outside konoha gate's at night the day before yesterday." Ren scowled. She silently told herself off. No wonder she felt pretty weak last night. Checking her watch, she saw she still had some time to spare.

"Just a quick detour." She told herself, placing her swords in their straps and grabbing her red scarf as well as 500 ryo on her while on her way out. Enough for breakfast and dinner. Jumping over the railing, even though she was three-stories high - the advantages of being a ninja- Ren hit the ground running. Yesterday, she had spotted a small cafe.

(or tea shop, I'm not sure what they are in japan, but for some reason I'm picturing a normal cafe, just go with it)on a corner during her quick run to the academy. It'd have to do.

She still had an hour before school started, remembering the times are always different on the first day back to school so pupils can adjust, so that means that today would start earlier and end later. She opened the door which had open blinds on, the small bell attached at the top made a jingle, making her presence known.

There was only a few other people in, sipping their tea due to how early it was. Ren walked up to the counter and ordered a hot chocolate and a sausage roll. After paying the employee 70 yen, she sat down on one of the chairs facing each other against the window, right beside the door.

"I'll be coming here again." Ren said to herself after demolishing her roll and drink. That tasted soooo good. She left 30 yen on the table for a tip and left, not before asking the person behind the till to wrap up a cheese and ham toastie for her for 40 yen.

Ascending the steps to the hokage office(**AU** I completely forgotten the hokages office was directly above the academy) Ren patted her shuriken holster thoughtfully. On her way there she had encountered a small sweet shop where she had stocked up on her pocky.

Several minutes passed before she stood waiting in line before the mission assignment desk. The hokage and other high ranking ninjas were sorting through the missions and offering some to the two ninja before her. One was wearing a green spandex suit with an all-too gleaming bowl-cut hairstyle while the other looked very similiar to the third, smoking a cigarette.

Ren recognized them instantly, Might Gai and Asuma Sarutobi.

"It's a shame Kakashi wasn't here to help us with this mission," Asuma drawled rubbing his hair. " He's a lot better company than some." The jounin eyed Gai warily.

"Now, Now mighty Asuma! Do I detect a quenched will of fire?! Jealousy does not suit the youthful!" Gai literally shouted in his face.

"If you haven't noticed we're not so 'youthful' anymore. And what do you mean by jealousy?!"

"Come, come Asuma! I'm sure you had known Kurenai had gone with him." Gai teased.

"Yeah what of it?" The jounin clenched his teeth.

"Alone...with no other shinobi... It's is very clear your BLOSSOM BLOOMS only for her Asuma."

"I don't know what your talking about."

"Cold, long nights DECREASING THEIR YOUTH...nothing to keep them warm but their bodies INCREASING THEIR YOUTH...I'm sure Kakashi would have some ideas from that book of his and when they merge in a BEAUTIFUL LOTUS FLOWER of PASSIONATE SUNSETS-!" The green beast clapped his hands together

Asuma yanked Gai by his jounin vest. "Right thats it! We're going to the Land of Earth!"

"And I thought you said you didn't like Kurenai.!"

"I don't...I just think that we should help them with their mission... and to keep Kakashi's dirty paws off her."

"what was that MY YOUTHFUL COLLEAGUE?"

"NOTHING!"

They left. Ren stood there shocked as the other members of the council, only the hokage sat there chuckling. Embarrased though not sure why, the kumo nin walked forward with her head down.

"erm...New mission please." She uttered. The others jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. Gai really knows how to capture their attention, even when he's left the room.

"Oh yes of course." Sarutobi ruffled through the papers on his sheet. "The ones available include transporting shopping for the elderly...cleaning the graffitti off the monuments(one day that boy will be taught a lesson)... help the construction team with building a new house...and work on a farm for the day"

"The farm mission will do." Ren held out her hand.

"I assume Naruto will accompany you?"

"I'm not even sure he knows where it is."

"Oh he knows." The hokage grumbled remembering a certain incident which had Anbu clearing up pig, cow and horse excrement for three days.

A cough sounded behind her. Realising she was holding up the line, Ren bowed then left, running down the steps as fast as she could. Time had past by fairly quickly at the cafe, especially since she couldn't stop warily eyeing the assistant going round with a jug of water, and who she had seen drop almost everything he picked up beforehand.

Checking her watch, she growled in frustration. She was not making a good start. First of all she had been nearly late yesterday. Now she was definitely late. Hearing the school bell ring she sprinted down the hallway and skidded to a halt outside her class. Yes! Iruka wasn't there yet.

Bursting through the door, she couldn't help but glare at everyone. It made her feel uncomfortable when everyone's gaze was on her. The only two who didn't look away was shikamaru- who was smirking- and Sasuke, who wasn't really looking in the first place.

Chatter suddenly replaced the silence as they resumed their conversations. Ren walked up the steps but not before getting intercepted by shikamaru.

"You're going to get swarmed today, they were just judging you yesterday. How troublesome for you." The boy seemed like it was so much effort to even say the words never mind moving a few feet.

"S'not as if It's going to be painful, thanks for the warning, but I didn't really need it." Ren scoffed. She sat down in her seat. _Honestly?! How bad could it be?!_

* * *

Really bad. One second the only person in a metre radius of me was Sasuke, the next my personal space was being invaded big time. Don't say a word, don't say a word and they'll leave you alone. Though that was quite difficult when you are bombarded with stupid questions.

"Where are you from?!"

"That scarf was soo last year, why are you even wearing it? Do you have a really ugly face or something. I bet she does."

"Were you in a fight?! Why else would you were plasters. OH MY GOD you so totally were in a fight weren't you."

"Since you're foriegn, do you speak a different language than us? Or maybe you're a mute. Or just to stupid to pronounce words correctly." Sasuke snickered at that one.

" You should do something nice with your hair, tying it up that much it's good for it."

"What have you got against Sasuke-kun?! You better not like him too-" Sasuke grimaced

"Hang on a bloody second!" I yelled. " I couldn't give a f- ah sod it, just bugger off!" I clasped my hand to my mouth instantly. Where had that come from? I hardly ever lose it and shout. Plus I'd let myself slip up. The people here don't use words like that.

"..."

Sasuke snickered again. I was really getting fed up with it and shot him a glare.

"You talk funny." Ino said, the girls nodded in agreement.

"Piss off." I sighed. At lot of the girls gave up, but the more stubborn ones, namely Ino and Sakura stayed.

"Hey! That's no way to talk to me! I mean I get it if you mean billboard brow, no one wants that thing clogging up their sight," The yamanaka literally shouted in my face. Oh a little spit too. Nice. A 'harumph' sounded from the pink-haired nitwit. "We're not leaving until you answer our questions."

I sighed in defeat and performed a top of the notch shikamaru slouch.

"I'm from Konoha though I've traveled a lot these past six years, and resided in the land of lightning for while, earning my rank as genin. This scarf was given to me by a ...(pillock) friend. Though I'm not familiar with fashion concepts, as I think they are a waste of time. Do you really believe that two very small plasters would be the only wounds a ninja would get from a fight?! I think you can tell by now what language I speak, If not... then I fear for Konoha's future. Tying my hair up keeps it out of the way, If keeping it 'undamaged' would help me in my training then please tell me how." I took a breath.

Ino looked as defiant as ever and Sakura...looked slightly embarrassed. Good.

"What about Sasuke-kun."The pink-haired girl balled her hands into fists.

"I couldn't give crap about that prick." Best. Answer. Ever. Explained everything in seven words. I just didn't realise I had shot myself in the foot.

"Sasuke isn't a prick! whatever that is!" Sakura whined. "He's so cool..."

"Yeah I bet you're secretly crushing on him aren't you.!" Ino yelled once more. Ah...fangirls. Just why God, why?!

"Is anything I say going to deter you from thinking otherwise?" I asked. They didn't even look like they were listening. Still blabbering on about Sasuke and how 'dreamy' he was and how the new girl would never get him. How was I supposed to get them to go back to where they came from. I'm sure they'd want them back. and with that thought I couldn't help myself.

"Hey, the zoo called, they want their escaped chimps back. They said they were sorry and would never try to bathe you again." I said loud and clear to them. The whole class snickered. Sakura looked furious, but Ino was still figuring it out.

"The zoo want their...HEY! You bit-" She was cut off by a certain teacher who was ten minutes late.

"Settle down class. Ino, Sakura, back in your seats please. Sorry I was late, Naruto would you please wipe that scowl off your face and take your seat." Iruka said with clenched teeth. From the 'innocent' smile on Naruto's face I'm guessing he was the cause for our sensei's lateness.

Ino and Sakura glared at me, before leaving, back to their own tables while Naruto collapsed in the chair beside me, strangely he seemed in a daze staring after Sakura.

"So pretty.." I heard him mumble. I waved a hand in front of his face to bring him back to reality.

"Oh hi Renata!"

"Stop calling me that."

"Hehe okay Ren. erm.. why do you look so grumpy." Naruto asked, obviously spotting the how red my face had gotten and how tensed I seemed.

"Your girlfriend and a bunch of others kept pestering me, asking questions about where I came from, most likely due to this." I said tapping my headband. Naruto looked pretty pleased with himself when I mentioned girlfriend, but the moment I tapped my headband his eyes widened.

"Where did you get that!" Wow. I thought he just didn't care about it. Not that he had only just noticed it now. This kid really was an idiot.

"I've been wearing this since I first got here, you eejit." He seemed confused as to what I just called him. He''ll realize soon enough it was an insult.

"Naruto, Ren would you quite down, I'm about to take the register." Iruka warned.

Afterwards I turned to the blonde, quitely. "I got given another mission, so once again, do whatever you want, you won't get detention, oh and try to make sure he does." I jabbed a thumb in Sasuke's direction. " His presence is giving me headache, and I think he's doing it on purpose."

"Cool! What are we doing this time?! Busting bad guys? Saving a damsel in distress!"

"Working on a farm." I said bluntly. "And there's not 'we', you're just showing me where it is."

"Oh come on! It's so boring doing the same stuff sometimes. There's only so many times you can prank in a week."

"Fine." I knew if I said otherwise he would probably cling to my leg until I gave in. "But you're not getting paid this time."

"Deal. Wait...can we bring Sakura along-"

"HELL NO!"

"Awwww."

"I swear Naruto if you pull that puppy-dog face at me one more time, your history."

"But I hate history!"

Sigh."eugh...why do I even bother."

* * *

Throughout the weeks -spars took much longer than Iruka estimated(about three weeks)- things were carried out like so; Ren would supervise the taijutsu spars along with Iruka, seemingly quite surprised that both Ino and Naruto were better than she expected- and Naruto would get into fights with Sasuke, leaving them both in detention, well.. more like just Sasuke in detention as Naruto would be excused from it on account of taking Ren to the whereabouts of her missions.

Both twelve years olds seemed very satisfied with Sasuke's growing frustration and would often devise plans on how to get him into detention in the most embarrassing way, Ren only going along with it as payback for Sasuke's rudeness to her during their spar. Once Naruto, passed a note along to chouji saying "From Sasuke."

Chouji proceeded to open the note and read what was written on it:

**To my Dearest chouji.**

**As I often glance across the classroom, and my eyes find your wondrous mouth, consuming crisps all day.**

**Sometimes I imagine That I am one of the many crisps in your bag, eagerly waiting to be caressed by those soft juicy lips.**

**I shudder in joy when I imagine myself to be that crisp that you are fingering, deciding whether I am worthy enough to be touched by you. **

**And when you do choose me, and lick the flavour off my skin, I can't help but feel wondrous and hope that I can feel your tongue, licking everywhere on my body.**

**I am waiting for the day that we can kiss and let our tongues explore each others mouths.**

**Yours truly.**

**Sasuke. **

The poor boy choked on one of his crisps. Unfortunately for Sasuke, Iruka was ill and his replacement was Suchi Narotoru, a teacher well known for his humiliation of the students. Ren knew this due to Kakashi telling her years ago that she shouldn't do anything silly in a class with him if she wanted to keep her dignity.

Suchi noticed Chouji's coughing fit.

"What's the matter, boy!" He mocked. "Karma's finally catching up to ya?"

"No sensei." Ren interjected. "Naruto gave Chouji a note that was from Sasuke."

Sasuke spluttered. He took a deep breath. He would not loose his cool, everything would sort itself out.

"Well then Sasuke, if it was so important it couldn't wait till after class then why don't you read out what it says." Suchi said evilly. Before Sasuke protested, the teacher had yanked him out of his chair, and taken the note from chouji.

"Sensei I did not write this!" Sasuke said.

"Then why is it in the form of your handwriting?"

_what?_ Sasuke thought as he looked down at the paper. _Impossible! Theres no way Naruto could have been able to copy his handwriting to that extent, plus it would be obvious if he was trying to look over at my notes all the time to make sure he was getting it right_. Looking at his table from the front of the class, Sasuke saw Ren looking at him, eyes closed, and scarf obscuring the rest of her face. She was eye-smiling.

_It must have been her. I don't know how she did it, but Naruto must have not been able to pull this off, she must be the brains behind of all the stupid things happening to me lately including this._ Sasuke swore inwardly.

"Well go on then, we are all waiting to hear your important news." Suchi teased.

Sasuke gulped and looked at the note.

"To..my *sigh* dearest chouji..."

By the end of it Sasuke was red and looking down at the floor while the girls all fell over anime style. Kiba wolf-whistled. Naruto was banging the table and laughing like a maniac along with the rest of the boys.

"See I told you all he was gay! Believe it!"

"It does explain his lacking of interest in girls." Shino concurred.

Suchi turned to Naruto. "Detention Uzumaki, you too Uchiha, just try not fall for Naruto too while you're at it. "

The class laughed even harder. Sasuke turned even redder.

Then Ren would excuse Naruto from detention and they would go on a mission. They've been going on missions every single time Naruto got detention, which was almost everyday. Sasuke was getting more and more suspicious as to where the two were going and was frustrated that whenever he wanted to go and investigate, Naruto, or Ren landed him in trouble with the teacher.

It got to the point that even though on some missions Ren had already been there, she would get Naruto to come along anyway and lie to the teacher. In a strange, demented sort of way, she enjoyed his company and Naruto was glad to have a friend his own age who wasn't busy all the time. He still hasn't gotten her to smile properly again though they did have some fun times, even if Ren begs to differ, she tries to deny it.

* * *

It's been three weeks since I started the academy. Today- monday- Iruka and myself have finally managed to finished evaluating the spars between all the groups, leaving us with a new group containing the top three. Winners fight winners, losers fight losers, simple. It will probably last till friday where we will have the last few matches. Because trust me, theres going to be _a lot_ of spars. And this time I'll be participating. Good thing Iruka spars with me on weekends.

I took one of my pocky sticks out of my shuriken holsters and placed the chocolate end in my mouth to suck on while I'm fighting. Just for good luck.

* * *

**Poor Sasuke, he really didn't deserve that. Okay maybe he did. And yes, Ren does have a manipulative and (whats that word that people use to describe fox's sometimes, my minds gone completely blank)**

**Thanks guys, and please tell me if I've misspelled anything**

**EDIT: I think I've corrected all the mispellings**

**Okami out~**


	6. Chapter 6 : Dignity lost over a tampon

**I hate it when you've just eaten an orange and you're fingers feel all sticky**

* * *

"Ren Namikaze and Ino Yamanaka!" Iruka shouted loud and clear.

Yay me. I couldn't help but think to myself 'This is going to be pimps'. Okay, don't underestimate her Ren, remember what happened with Sasuke. But as we crossing into the clearing it was hard not to. When I was younger, yes I probably wouldn't fight Ino, she had a little reputation for being mean and a harsh taijutsu fighter. It was that stubborn attitude. Yet I can't take her seriously. Is she really the same girl six years ago, who wouldn't bat an eye over anything that had nothing to do with herself? Nope. Well at least not in one half of my mind. Anyone who drools over the Uchiha boy _that_ much can't possibly concentrate on their other studies if they're too busy looking good and trying to catch his eye all the time. Just screams pathetic.

I shook my head. We were standing at each end of the clearing now. And the moment Iruka shouted 'Begin!' and I saw that feral look in her eyes, I literally shat my pants. Yep I underestimated her too soon.

fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu-

"Come on! Scream it into the dirt for me!"

"uhno..ih te sti und te mst bu-ih-ul ku-oi-i n ki-no-hu."

"I CAN'T HEAR YOU!"

I managed to lift my face out of the ground slightly. "Ino is the best and the most beautiful kunoichi in Konoha." I gasped.

"Better." Ino smirked. She had me pinned down, sitting on my back, with her knees on the ground either side of me. She had both my arms in a certain lock behind my back with one hand, and used the other to push my face into the ground, effectively cutting off most of my air supply and almost crushing the bone's in my arms. And I really can't deal with pain well. I'm better than I used to be. Much better...but that's another story.

Noticing I had managed to raise my head, she pushed it down one more time to drive her point home. Hard. My body shuddered at the pain, especially since Ino had pressed my forehead against a very sharp stone. I could taste the metallic liquid before my mind registered I've been cut just above my eyebrow. Great. Head wounds produce _a lot_ of blood. I could already feel it sliver down my face and around my eyes, in a few seconds I'll be temporarily blind. Well, at least when I get up, I can give Ino a good scare. I personally love the effect my glare has on people. Coupled with this, the effect would be awesome. Did I really just say that word? Eugh, Naruto's rubbing off on me.

"And don't you forget it." That sly smile wasn't going anywhere. She waited for the reconciliation seal.

I stood up slowly, back to Ino and the crowd. I looked over my shoulder and glared at Ino. Everyone who was smiling and laughing before at my expense, now cowered in fear- Okay I tend to exaggerate, their eyes were just widened and shocked, and a bit scared- , even Ino though she was doing very well. The only one who was grinning like an Idiot was Naruto, likewise he was the only one who was upset and horrified when Ino beat me.

The blood marks around my eyes were doing a nice trick, as well as the streaks down my cheeks, as if my eyes were bleeding, and...Ah bloody hell I can't see now. What a wasted effort, I barely had time to see their reactions, never mind bask in the glory.

"Well done Ino, You have one win so far, Ren you have none, but better luck next time!" Iruka gave me a hearty pat on the back and I grumbled. He guided me back to the side lines, me with my grumpy face and slouched. Ever since I came back here my posture has been horrendous. I seem to be taking a page out of Kakashi's book...no, not that one.

* * *

"Sakura Haruno and Ren Namikaze."

Okay, this time, _this_ time I'm not gonna mess it up. She may look and act _and_ sound pathetic. Doesn't mean she is. Don't do what you did with Ino. Imagine Sakura is a big snarling bull -Bull's don't snarl, but never mind- That spotted my red scarf and is after me. Don't look at her pink hair. Don't pay any attention to the love-dovey eyes she's making at Sasuke. She is a deadly flower, poisonous and full of deceit.

Standing across from her, I know I won't make the same mistake twice.

"Begin!" We both attack.

You've got to be kidding me. About two minutes into the fight I know I have already won, it just depends if I want to drag it out of keep it short. Scratch what I said before, this girl is pathetic, well compared to all the clan members. Her moves were very predictable and basic. She does perform them very well, I give her that. But that's it. At good speed, okay strength, but no surprises and nothing extra. This raging bull...is nothing but a dainty butterfly. And really, I should have known that, I mean COME ON! She has PINK hair! She only beats up Naruto because he refuses to fight back.

Her moves are routine. When Iruka helped me practice on weekends, he gave me the basic moves sheet. She did them all in that exact same order, never breaking routine. Although she is quite dainty, parts of her personality say other ways. Once she realized I was just toying with her- coming in close and leaving plenty of openings, and then stepping back a millisecond before she hit me, as well as seeing that glint in my eye, I call it eye-smirking- Sakura showed me her fiery side, her punches became slightly uncoordinated, but that's okay, what I praised her on - in my mind of course- was her increased of strength and not holding back anymore.

However the fight was beginning to drag on, and I couldn't care less anymore, ten minutes have already been, and If I don't end it now, Iruka's going to think I'm struggling.

Kicking her feet out from under her, Sakura let out an "oof" as she landed on her bum. Acting quickly, I streaked forwards, one knee open the ground, the other pressing into her gut, while my right arm pressed against her throat, effectively pinning her down. She struggled, but the moment I started pressing down harder, my greater strength holding her down, Iruka shouted.

"That's a very good pinning position Ren, good win. Sakura you basic skills are very well done, but that ferocity during that last few minutes would be very welcome more often."

* * *

"Ren Namikaze and Shikamaru Nara."

Good ol' Shikamaru, from what I'd seen from his fights, he couldn't give a rat's ass about it, lost everything so far except for Sakura. I saw him put a little effort against her. For one thing, Shikamaru doesn't like losing to girls. Another thing, if Sakura beats you, you're never going to get past genin. Even though he lost to Ino and Hinata, he still tried a bit, so at least he went down fighting, but with the boys all he did was stand there and wait for them to kick him to the ground, or in Choji's case, tackle him to the ground. After that little mishap, he merely sat on the ground.

So when it came to out fight, he simply sighed loudly. We both stood in our slouched stances, though mine looked kind of cool like Kakashi's whereas Shikamaru's looked, well just plain lazy. When we started both my punches were blocked and he attempted to give me a slow kick to the stomach. I grabbed his foot and twisted it. He did a Sasuke-like manoeuvre and turned his body by using his hands on the ground to give me another kick with his other foot too. He tricked me. A lot of genin give away where they are going to kick or hit with they're eyes. Shikamaru looked downwards. Instead his kick hit my face.

I stumbled back from the force though was slightly disappointed to find his kick wasn't at strong as it could be.

"Just hurry it up Namikaze; I couldn't care less how it ends." Shikamaru yawned.

"Are you going to take me seriously Nara?" I questioned icily.

"You're a girl. The only thing that should involve you and serious business is washing clothes." Oh no he didn't. The sexist prick. He knows what irks me.

The moment he saw me walking stiffly towards him, silent anger radiating off me in waves, he just shrugged.

"You're going have a tough time getting that blood stain out of your shorts."

"They're not shorts, and what bloo-"

"Winner Ren, bad luck Shikamaru, come on let's get some ice on that."

Sasuke winced, as if remembering his own wound, though his didn't bleed. Shikamaru clenched his teeth. "I'll get you back for this Namikaze." He smirked.

* * *

My fight with Hinata was very interesting. I didn't expect to win. Hyuuga's are very talented at taijutsu, especially considering its the base for their gentle fist style. My techniques struggled against hers, and though I was stronger and bolder in my attempts to subdue her, the Hyuuga's skill prevailed.

Since my failure against Ino, my other losses include Shino and Kiba. My win against Shino however was a mistake. Or more fitting, I shouldn't have won. Iruka knew that, that's why he placed Shino above me. Just before our fight Shino dislocated his shoulder in his previous spar. They couldn't get it to pop back in.

Instantly I thought it was going to be an easy win. How wrong I was. Shino was fast and strong. It took all of my skills and energy not to succumb, even with his dislocated shoulder; I could see why most of the class lost against him. It was his _defence_ that made him win his other match's. Everyone else was on the offense, building up their attack, while Shino switched between, keeping his fort strong.

I barely won, and that was because of his shoulder. Iruka declared me the winner, giving me another point under my belt. This was the third day, so I still had the fight against Kiba. Two spars per day for the top ten.

It's true what they say about Inuzuka's. They really are animals.

Kiba came flying at me like a savage bear. He barely gave me time to think. There were plenty of openings, his defence was shit, but he would never give you the chance to strike out, he just kept coming, and coming. I was on my defence the whole time. Later on I'd be covered in bruises. I think you know who won that one.

* * *

On the fourth day the first one I fought against was Choji. Now, from what Kakashi told me I know not to expect slowness due to them being err...overweight. So once again I overestimated him. So glad I did. Choji was strong, really strong. The only problem was, he put too much power into his punches, he wasn't able to recover quickly if he missed, which left plenty of openings for me.

Though the kid has some stamina -probably all that fat I had to punch my way through- It took me a good half an hour, which is actually not too long or not too short.

"Ren Namikaze and Naruto Uzumaki." Now this one. This one I have been looking forward too. Naruto gave me a smirk as we both entered the clearing. I have to watch with Naruto, from what I've learnt with his other fights, he's fucking unpredictable. And though a lot of students don't see it that way, it's actually a sign of cleverness, or cunning, which ever you prefer. I like cunning better, suits him.

Not only that, but he learns quickly.

"Begin!" I expected him to come running at me, like everyone else has done. Strangely enough he just stood there grinning like an idiot. What was he doing? He's waiting for me to make a move isn't he? Getting ready to charge at him, and focusing solely on that, just as I was about to run at the boy, he suddenly dived towards my feet. Fucking unpredictable eejit.

He tricked me into thinking he was letting me make the first move, and he knows that when I attack, I also leave myself open for attack. He's noticed during where my other opponents let me make the first move that there's a point in time when I am focused on one thing -building up my power-, that's very rare for me so the time limit on it is about five seconds. I'm aware of that because Iruka sensei told me. God, he's a good teacher. In that stance I would be leaning forwards and due to my position, anything outside my focus could easily knock me over.

Which Naruto did by sweeping my legs up from under me with his own. Falling backwards I managed to land on my hands, and do a sort of back flip, landing upwards, yet not stable. Noticing this Naruto quickly punched upwards into my gut, lifting me into the air where he had jumped and was now above me, getting ready to bring his leg down in a barrage technique.

But I can be unpredictable too.

As his leg was about to come down on my back, I quickly twisted in the air so it was brought down on my stomach instead. Due to being high in the air, I knew I had plenty of time. Naruto was too confident in his barrage. He didn't expect me to grab his leg with both arms, holding it to me. This meant he couldn't get free and get away. Reaching out, I took a hold of his jumpsuits collar under his chin and let go of his leg. If I was going down, he was coming down with me.

And now the fun part. I pulled his face to mine. His body followed, so his right leg was directly above my left and his left arm direct above my right arm etc. With only a few inches in between us. Then I rolled 180 degrees in the air, switching places with him.

I basically turned his own technique against him.

That whole process only took two and a half seconds

So he took the brunt of his own attack, because we carried the momentum in that kick earlier. We threw up dust clouds when we landed, so Iruka nor the students - apart from Hinata, who gasped- could not see what was happening. When the dust cleared Naruto was lying on his back and me on top of him, my arms holding me up. We had left a very small and shallow crater in the earth. Naruto must have used chakra with that kick, because if it could cause this...well I'm not even going to finish that sentence.

I could tell that Naruto could still fight. After all we have had quite a few spars when we were on missions and he was pissing me off. That boy had a crazy amount of stamina. So drawing back my fist I punched him in the gut at least three times, very hard. He coughed, but I knew he wasn't going to be throwing up blood anytime soon. It depends on where on the stomach you hit him, and I hit him in the least dangerous area. What sort of guardian would I be if I didn't?

Naruto smiled at me. After all that he still grins like that?! "You got me." He sighed in defeat, though he didn't look upset at all.

"Winner: Ren Namikaze. Naruto I'm very impressed with your skills lately, and Ren well done countering that barrage." Iruka looked like a very proud mother-hen. As I stood up I pulled Naruto up with me. We made the seal and I helped him back to the others, letting him lean on my shoulder. I think I've become soft. Just to make up for it the moment we got back to our places I suddenly pushed him off.

"Whoa!" Naruto tumbled to the ground. "He he," he chuckled. " You nearly broke the law, good thing you remembered before you got too nice and could never return."

"Shut it."

"Oh Ren thank you for the wonderful and good deed you just did."

"I'm warning you."

"Good-two-shoes."

"Orangutan."

"Teacher's pet."

"Idiot." I mumbled, he didn't realize his insult was completely irrelevant. Oh well, at least his cunning mind made up for it. I have to admit, If I hadn't thought as quickly as I had in that spar, I would be goner.

* * *

Now the last and final day. Mine and Sasuke's fight. It's also the last fight. Naruto actually did better than I thought against Sasuke. That's squirts full of surprises. The Uchiha had won against everyone, even Hinata. I was not going to let him win this one, I don't care if I get us both disqualified, he was not going to win. Let's just hope he fall's for it.

Unlike my taijutsu spars, I wore my swords today, on the outside of my flak jacket. Easily accessible. As usual they made a cross shape on my back with my favorite sword - Yellow Earth- under my flak jacket, still accessible but more difficult to pull out.

Whenever I sat down beside Naruto he wouldn't stop prodding and touching them. I cleaned them every day, I didn't want want his dirty paw prints on them

"Stop it." I hissed.

He ran his finger along the blade.

"You'll get cut." His grin told me otherwise. However it wasn't long before "Ouch!"

"I told you."

"But they're soo cool!," Surely he's not-yep, he still touching them. "Where did you get them from anyway, because I really want some."

"Naruto you wouldn't know-

"Ren Namikaze and Sasuke Uchiha." Iruka shouted.

"-Finish that sentence for me, I've gotta go." I half expected him to do, instead he just thrust out his hand into a thumbs up. It reminded me eerily of a certain jounin.

"Good luck, Renata-

"It's Ren you little pipsqueak!"

"-Ren, beat that mangy emo to a pulp!" I could have sworn one of his teeth sparkled. I quickly glanced around. Phew, Might Gai wasn't here.

Giving Naruto an eye-smirk - my own invention- I walked with my head held high towards the clearing, not even glancing in Sasuke's direction, only when I got to my starting point and gave him a determined glare.

"Tsk, don't get cocky, you know you can't win, and It's jut not right to pummel a girl into the ground." Sasuke warned. Not smirk included there. Well at least he did have some principles- hang on a moment. Did he just say what I think he did.

"First of all, I'm as strong as you, maybe even stronger, and I can take you." Okay no need to get cocky Ren, just stay cool and collected.

"Begin!"

And it started. Sasuke having the upper hand with, well more years of training and just his natural ability. He must train daily though, he was able to beat a Hyuuga. His defense was strong and his offence was phenomenal. It was bare will power that kept me going. Thinking back, that was also what kept Naruto going against Sasuke. I guess it's not just his body that has amazing stamina.

I managed to land two hits to his four. I was sore, bloody and tired. He had barely a scratch on him and the only thing insinuating he had been sparring was Sasuke's dusty clothes and faster breathing. Not only that but he was smirking. Always looking down on people who claim they can beat him, because he knows they can't.

Throughout the spar I made sure to keep touching my sword handles at intervals, as if I was itching to use them - which I was- and to catch Sasuke's attention. Which it did. From what I've learned Sasuke likes to proves others wrong. Wrong that they can beat him. Wrong that they are a skilled genin. Wrong that they have a different skill from his that he can't over come. This is attitude of his will aid me in this spar.

I know Sasuke would like to prove that my specialty was useless against him, and I know he thinks that I probably think I better than I say I am, and that I only know the very basic in Kenjutsu. How wrong he is.

Now, now's perfect. While he stood opposite each other, catching out breaths, barely four meter's apart. I quickly grabbed my left-handed sword hilt with my right hand. Then I looked as if I decided against using it and dropped my hands into a taijutsu stance. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and leaped at me I ducked, but turning my head slightly I could see a knowing glint in Sasuke's eyes.

As he sailed over my back, he grabbed two of my ones, one in each hand, and pulled them along with him, leaving my with Yellow Earth. There's a reason I had them crisscrossed on my back. Sasuke had them both in the wrong hands. A lot of people believe the sword handle closest to a hand is specific to that hand. Others don't even know some swords are molded for different hands. Which is why if an enemy tries to use my swords against me, he believes the one closest to my right hand is a right handed sword and vice versa, however as you can guess, I have to reach across the back of my head to get the correct sword.

Now, Sasuke saw me holding one with the wrong and hand and most likely concluded that the way they were positioned, he held them correctly. It's his turn to look like a fool.

Iruka looked ready to stop the fight, but one look from me he settled back down. I'm glad he trusts me. We're probably disqualified now, so what difference does it make. Also I think Iruka was curious, and due to a little over a month away from being genin, we could handle it, as well as Sasuke being far more advanced than the rest of the class.

"Come on then. Show me you're not just some worthless girl who was only made a genin due to pleading. I think we all know these swords are just for show." Sasuke glared at me.

"Fine." I shrugged. Then I glared right back at him, insinuating a challenge. " Prove it."

The Uchiha ran towards me, my sword tight in his hands. He was holding them all wrong, and when he swung at me, it was weak and clumsy, good for a beginner but clumsy nonetheless. I guess nobody told him swords are heavy and hard to swing correctly. I spent a good portion of my year at Kumo building my upper body strength, something I still need to continue. Because of this, handling them is a lot easier for than it used to be.

I dodged it easily. He swiped at my legs with swords, which I jumped in the air to avoid, only to land on them due to Sasuke making a cross shape with them. From there a kicked him in the chest, forcing him to stumble backwards, where I quickly moved to his side and stuck out my leg. Without his hands to catch himself, and too busy with preventing the swords from accidentally cutting him, Sasuke fell onto his bottom.

This made him angry, angry, but of course Uchiha's don't have emotions so I'll just scratch out the 'very' bit. He lashed out with one of the swords again in my direction, and I dodged. Using this time to get back on his feet, he once again started waving the swords at me, but this time with more ferocity and accuracy. It was getting harder to avoid the metal blades so I just kind of 'hand chopped' them away, if that makes any sense. probably not. Sasuke and clearly evident on the others faces were shocked, because all I did was keep batting the weapons away with my bare hands and not a single cut, maybe some bruises later but that was besides the point.

My fingers were together and hands straight hence why I said 'hand chopped', in that kind of shape, and with either the back or the side of my hand I would hit the flat side of the sword away. This is what they taught you in Kumo, or rather what a master swordsman would teach you. Yugito would often say to me "What if you were weaponless? And had only your hands and taijutsu skills, and we all know that unless you are very talented at it -which we all know you aren't- you would be a sitting duck. Or it could be that someone sneaks up and snatches your swords from you. What then? They are your biggest asset and you and me both know you can't do squat without them."

And then Bee would teach me. They said it's amazing how I picked it up so fast, however they were really just empty compliments. I trained ten hours per day, most consisted of swordsmanship, about a third was taijutsu and at least one day a week, had me training using this technique against swords. Agility and speed in those lessons was everything.

And that's what I was doing, blocking every blade his threw towards me. Trust me, this was a lot easier than doing it with Bee. Yugito would argue that it's better to start off facing difficult opponents, after of course the first day of a beginners lesson. And it really paid off. Even though I've only managed to block one hit from Bee every spar, it's brought my level up a good deal. A level that was much higher than Sasuke's.

Speaking of the navy-haired boy, -I..think it's navy, is it? I can never be too sure what certain hair colours are classed as. Maybe a just a darker Navy will do- his frustration was starting to show, as well a little bead of sweat dripping down his face. And yet his pursuit has not lessened one bit.

A stabbing pain in my gut brought my attention to my _own_ body. Soon adrenaline alone would not be enough to keep the pain away from the wounds Sasuke had inflicted earlier. Not mention, compared to Sasuke, I was drenched in sweat. I should have put the plan into motion earlier, not just five minutes ago.

That's about right when Sasuke kicked me up and under the jaw, like an uppercut punch but with his foot. Dammit! I was distracted for a second and Sasuke took it. That's going to be a nasty bruise. I went flying backwards, my body curved, then landed, hard on the ground.

"Uuf!" Everything at that moment screamed silently in agony. "Oh no." This was not a good time to be getting a migraine. To my calculations I have about ten minutes before my brain gives in. A sword came down on me and pinned the side of my flak jacket to the ground.

Sasuke stood triumphantly above me. I really liked that flak jacket. Bastard.

I started struggling to get up, but seeing this, the Uchiha boy stuck one foot on my lower abdomen. Raising the other sword with two hands, he looked ready to bring it down on my chest. Not quite believing he wouldn't - I honestly wouldn't believe him either, he looked crazy- pierce through my body with it, Iruka looked ready to give the signal that the spar was over. What I found out much later was that the most Sasuke would have done was just bring to about an inch off my skin, to show that he had won.

Okay let's hope I can do this. Bee, I pray to god that you're training has paid off. Last time I tried this, and all the other times for that matter I either completely missed, or got my palms torn to shreds. Who wants a free ribbon! They're free. Made of skin and blood I'm sure you'll love your new ribbon. Enjoy!

Moving so fast that the sudden movement made the dust ply around us slightly so it was probably hard for Naruto and the others to see yet both mine and Sasuke's vision was clear.

The sword came down and my hands came together.

* * *

Naruto couldn't believe what he had seen! Sasuke was using swords, and in Naruto's opinion was quite skilled at it -remember, he'd never seen and actually fight involving swords before- and Ren! Ren was like the wind, her hands moved so fast in such a short space of time and area that it made her body look like it was going in slow motion. Not only that but she was blocking his every move with her bare hands.

He thought back to only ten minutes ago when he, along with the rest of the class was holding his breath when the Uchiha stripped two of the blades off Ren's back. But now Naruto understood. He wasn't much of bright spark, but unlike a lot of the class, he was cunning, which paid off in making quick battle strategies, however analysing what was happening or 'what had just happened' in a spar was always quite difficult for Naruto, unless it was something he himself would think of.

Looking back on the fight in his head, he instantly focused on Ren's little sword hints.

"I've got it!" he shouted out, striking his open palm with his fist and gaining the attention of those in the class who had not been taught to ignore him.

"Naruto, shut up! Sasuke's fighting, don't distract him! It'll be all your fault if he loses!" Sakura's dreaded fist appeared over his head.

_how the hell did she move so-_

"Ow Sakuraaa-chan." The orange-clad boy now rubbed a rising lump under his hair.

But he had figured out, that this was all a part of Ren's plan. She played on Sasuke's arrogance, something that only Naruto seemed to guess because he -besides Shikamaru, who wasn't actually paying attention to the fight- unlike most of the class doesn't cloud his arrogant and superior personality in coolness and cleverness.

However, so far it looked like Ren was a goner, from what he's seen last, Sasuke had her pinned down.

Now though, the dust was covering up both Ren and Sasuke and Naruto was busy jumping up and down and trying to climb on peoples shoulders to get a better view. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea and so no one got anywhere. All the girls were tense. They didn't like to see their Sasuke struggle, while all the boys were eager to see if Sasuke would finally have some of that superiority attitude beaten out of him. Hinata had nearly done so is well, yet in a way Sasuke's forward-going personality swamped her at the very last minute and he won.

The academy student's chattered loudly and quickly among themselves, and started holding their breath once more as the dust began to clear. Standing on his tip toes and increasing his height by a mere inch, Naruto tried and failed to spot Ren and Sasuke before the others did. He hated waiting, he was always an impatient child, unlike Ren who would hide and watch her surroundings for hours on end, hardly making a move.

"Woohoo! Go on Ren! That'll teach him to mess with us!" Naruto jumped enthusiastically off the ground, with his right fist pumping the air. From what the student's could see now, it was quite appropriate for those who never really like Sasuke.

Ren was still pinned down, beads of sweat trickling down her face and her teeth clenched, struggling against Sasuke, however her superior strength prevailed. Sasuke was also having a difficult time.

Both Ren's palms were clasped flat against either side of the blade, stopping it's journey. They were shaking, both of them. And when Sasuke saw in Ren's eyes that she wasn't going to give up, he retreated, pulling the other sword out of her flak jacket, as well as the one still firmly held in Ren's hands. However when Sasuke tugged at it Ren wouldn't let go.

Their eyes locked and Sasuke's hardened.

"My turn." Ren eye-smiled at him.

* * *

I released the sword and using both my legs kicked at his stomach simultaneously, propelling him backwards, he did well to land on his feet. Sasuke held back in a defensive stance, swords in both hands. The only difference was he had them in the right hands this time. I could his face marvel at how much more comfortable they were this way...and also that he had been tricked. He shot a glare at me.

I just reached behind my back and took out the hidden sword, double-edged and any hand. Yellow-earth. Naruto grinned and Sasuke smirked. H eseemed to think I won't be able to handle such a sword. He doesn't know that speed isn't everything. Agility is

I held it in both hands and pointing in the direction of Sasuke. It was much wider than the blades he held, and heavier. I still haven't managed mastered it to the degree I have the other two. This is the sword I use in the training against Bee, when we go through the outcome of two swords to one, or sometimes three swords to one. I've never even come close to winning, but Yugito said I improved each lesson, if only by a minuscule amount.

So with those thoughts in my head I charged at Sasuke. Our swords clashed, he'd put both up to protect him. Silly move. I released one hand from the handle and punched him in the face. Then began what Naruto would later call the 'epic showdown'.

I wish he's recorded it with a camera, i wanted to see if I'd improved. I was much superior than Sasuke in sword fighting, even with only one blade against his two. I'd block on swing with Yellow earth, then dodge another or use my palm against it. I would twist and turn and pivot on one foot, pushing him further and further away from the center. It was almost like a was dancing, and this was one thing I knew I looked graceful at.

I could see worry etched into the Uchiha's face, and concentration straining at his eyes. I'm surprised Iruka hasn't stopped this already, he must think Sasuke could handle this, and that when he became a genin, this would be good experience for him when he starts fighting in the real world. Still. I would have interfered already.

Maybe he thinks that its our own fault it has gotten far and that we should end it? I don't know, but I certainly am going to. I have to admit, I am showing off a bit, it's not really my thing to do so, but I love sword fighting, it's like a passion, and when I get into it, I don't want to stop. I'm not showing off on purpose, I was just...enjoying myself. With Bee and Yugito, I was beaten down every time but this time, I'm actually winning and...I haven't felt this joy in a long, long time. To be exact, when both me and Naruto beat those bullies six years ago.

But time was dragging on, and with "oohs" and "aahs." from the audience and more than often a "Sasuke, no!" told me too much time had past. I need to end it.

So I noticeably put more strength and speed into my swings, and a sudden change in my tactics, taking a page from Naruto's book of unpredictability. I ducked under his arm this time when Sasuke swung around head-height, and head-butted him in the gut. he stumbled backwards and I used Yellow Earth to hit that blade out of his hand. Serious business now. We carried on, until the other blade fell from his grasp and hit the ground.

Sasuke shocked, but not yet undetermined, put up his fists. He was worse off than myself. Noticing for the fist time since I took out my double-edged sword, I could see cuts along his arms and legs, neighboring bruises. A lot of the damage was done by himself, unused to swords Sasuke had plenty of times accidentally cut himself.

I still had some energy left. He didn't look like he had much. Walking towards him slowly, I dragged yellow earth's tip across the ground. Rain was falling from the sky. Only small drops. I pulled my white hood over my head. It would be suitable to say I looked menacing.

When I reached him, Sasuke was getting ready to charge. We were at most two meters apart. The rain hand't yet drenched the dusty ground. No was my change. The moment Sasuke surged forward, I stamped my foot and swept my sword along the ground, causing the dust particles to raise up in the air. I sidestepped Sasuke. The thick air made it difficult for him to see me, and thus it was easy fro my to do so, without him spotting it. The moment he passed me, I stepped in behind him, pulled his torso to me with my left arm, locking both his arms, and hovering my blade under his chin with my right hand.

The dust cleared and Iruka leaped upwards.

"That's it! No one wins or loses, both of you are disqualified, however from showing a lot of skill in this match I'm allowing for this to count as a draw, so you each receive half a point. Despite that, I'm very disappointed in you both to resorting to weapons, this is a taijutsu tournament, not kenjutsu. I will speak to you both on Monday! be glad you don't have any harsh punishments." Iruka shouted. He winked at me. He was just following the rules in what he was supposed to say, never mind mind letting the whole thing happen. And even though he's a teacher and supposed to be more mature than us, I suppose he thought that it would be good for the Uchiha if he were taken down a notch. I agree.

Sasuke angrily knocked the blade away. Our eyes locked.

Even though Iruka had disqualified us, or called it a draw, be both knew who won.

And he hated me for it.

* * *

Naruto wouldn't stop talking to her afterwards. Ren wanted to claw her bloody ears off. Not that, that would help.

"It was so cool when you..blah blah blah...and then when Sasuke almost...blah blah...but you got the better of him and...blah blah blah!" Naruto shouted loudly enough for the whole world to hear.

They were walking back from the academy together towards another mission. Ren had not done this one yet, but the Hokage would mention this among the list of available missions everyday, so she thought she would give it a go, how hard would it be to catch a cat? Yet as she and Naruto were walking through the village, her previous fight with Sasuke was catching up to her.

"Look Naruto, lets just get some catnip from the shop, I'm not feeling up to it today and would much rather get done and over with nice and easy, alright?" Ren turned to her blonde haired companion. He grinned back.

"Sure." And they changed direction.

Unknown to them, they had a little follower.

_I'm not interested or curious in anyway_, Sasuke kept silently telling himself and denying the truth. The boy had not enjoyed being the only one getting in the neck for Naruto's - and Ren's for that matter- silly pranks. Not only that, but he wanted- no, needed- to find out what they were doing, what could be so important that Iruka sensei could let _Naruto_ out of detention without so much as a wave of his hand?

So here he was, the first day in a month that he hasn't had detention with the loser. Although he couldn't care less about Naruto, Ren was something to worry about. And she's a lot stronger than he had previously thought, as well as the fact that none of them knew much about her. And Sasuke's logic is that he is following -not stalking- her so he gain enough information to find her weaknesses and beat her. It's his destiny after all. To be come strong, meaning he has to be the strongest in the class.

Yet, as he followed them both, he couldn't help but wonder. Why the hell would someone like her, who was obviously above average in the academy skills hang out with the dead-last. "It's not going to help her in her future career." Sasuke mused aloud. She didn't even look like she was enjoying herself while Naruto was blabbering away, just narrowed eyes and expressionless lips.

She's trying to steal my look! Sasuke's eyes widened - only slightly, mind- in horror. Now she was definitely public enemy number 2. _If only we didn't have to be put into three man teams, then I could do things on my own. But if I want to get stronger, I'll need a strong team, and she looks like a likely candidate, otherwise we won't even be considered for the chuunin exams. Still, I'd rather get stuck with Hinata,_ Sasuke thought to himself while keeping his presence unknown.

"'The hell?" Sasuke frowned in confusion when he saw the two enter a miniature supermarket. He creeped along the wooden fence until going through the doors himself. Picking up a basket so as not to look out of place, he kept an eye on them and keeping his distance. He rounded a corner of shelves only to stop abruptly.

Ren and Naruto were halfway down the small aisle, they had found what they had wanted and were turning this way, not enough time for Sasuke to move without them noticing him as he was already two meter's away from the nearest hiding point. So was amazing speed he grabbed a random object off the shelf without looking. He placed it in his basket just as his eyes found the kumo nin's, then Naruto's.

Ren's forest green eyes hardened and Naruto pouted when he saw that her attention was no longer focused on him, but his arch nemesis, the Uchiha.

"Ren, come on! I have the catnip and we've got _stuff_ to do," Naruto whined, then glared at anyone else what Naruto had just said would have sounded kinky. "Don't tell me you like him too! He's got a stick so far up his-"

"Naruto, calm down, I for one agree with you." Ren replied, keeping eye contact with Sasuke. "Are you following us?"

"No." Sasuke said tersely.

"Then what are you doing?" She inquired, taking a few steps towards him.

"What does it look like I'm doing?! I'm shopping!" He defended himself.

Looking into his basket, Ren raised one eyebrow at him.

"Is there something you're not telling us Sasuke-_kun_?"

"...wha-!".

Naruto, curious as to what they were talking about joined in. "Hey Sasuke! Why are you buying -what are they called?" He squinted closer to the object in Sasuke's basket.

"Tampons? What are those?" Naruto scratched his head.

Sasuke suddenly straightened in a comically anime fashion. His eyes trailed down until they saw the pack of tampons standing out like an Uzumaki in a room full of Uchiha's. He gulped. He could almost feel Ren smirking behind that scarf of hers that had somehow risen to cover the lower half of her face.

"There for my...uh..mothe- I mean my cousi-." Damn! Why did all his females relatives have to be dead at this moment in time.

"For you, don't you mean?" Ren drawled, clearly enjoying this.

Sasuke swallowed, evidently sweating, he tugged on his wide collar. He now had too choices, either lose his pride - and speak the truth in that he was following them- or his dignity...

"I get nose bleeds often."

Ren was taken aback, this was new. " What do you mean? Show me. The person behind the till won't mind as long as you pay for it"

Sasuke sighed. _Goodbye dignity. At least I've still got pride left...,._

"They absorb...fluid." He cringed as he opened the box and tore open the packet containing one. He slipped the tampon out and twirled it in his fingers nervously.

Ren knew he was lying, but that didn't mean he was going to get out of it easily. "And then what?"

"And then..." He took a deep breath and shoved it up his nose, taking the cardboard surrounding the tissue off, so you could see a little 'tail' hanging from one nostril.

"Alright, I believe you." Ren lied, while Naruto looked on in wonder. Finally! Something to stopped nosebleeds without having to always use one hand!

"If you tell anyone..." He threatened.

"You owe me, I'll keep my mouth shut, but I'm not so sure about him." She jabbed a thumb at her orange companion, who had somehow gotten to the counter right under their noses to pay for the catnip

"Fine. I'll deal with him later." He humphed and was about to ask what they were doing but stopped himself. Remember, Uchiha's don't ask question about petty things because they are not interested in such things.

Noticing Naruto had slipped from her view Ren dismissed Sasuke without any signals and kept close to the hyperactive blonde.

Sasuke clenched his fists and refused to acknowledge her rudeness towards him. Even Naruto would say something, not just walk out of the room as if he didn't exist. He was to be clan head in a few years time. What about her? She doesn't even belong to a clan let alone clan rank.

"It doesn't matter." Sasuke said to himself. "She's nothing, she may think she's above me now, but one day she be like any other ninja wannabe and just fade into the background. She's a pathetic excuse for a ninja." He really believed that Ren was soon not even going to be memorable.

He left the shop with the packet of tampons back on the shelf and 30 yen on the counter. He had some training to do.

* * *

The sky had darkened and it was late afternoon, some would say it was night. It was slightly chilly out, but nothing an average citizen couldn't handle let alone a ninja in training. That night a month back was exceptionally cold, most of the leaves had frosted, an anomaly among the others, not even kumo nin could bear the icy air.

But being who he was, Sasuke had trained on that night too, given that he had set himself the challenge, wearing no more than his usual attire. And Sasuke is not one to lose a goal lightly. He was an avenger, and if he could not even master one night of training on the coldest day Konoha has had in over ten years- due to being a relatively warm climate- then he did not deserve the right to kill Itachi.

However that was a nearly a month ago, and now, here he was, doing the same thing yet in warmer weather. Sweat poured down his face and neck for he strives to improve himself greatly, although since that is quite impossible as he can't possibly improve a large sum anymore due to the limitations of his age and body, as well as how advance he is already, Sasuke will have to wait a few years to see a large difference from this day to when he is older.

The Uchiha was so focused in his training that he didn't finish until ten o'clock at night. The same time that both Naruto and Ren got home after finally catching that horror of a cat. Apparently the catnip was a waste of time.

Sasuke wiped his face using his t-shirt like the well brought up child he was and stated heading towards the Uchiha District which was quite far outside of Konoha. On the way through the village he walked past Naruto's apartment. He knew the blonde lived there, because Naruto would always tell Sakura very loudly that she should come see him sometime, and another incident ...that Sasuke would not like to share. He shivered at the thought of it.

Noises shouted from above. he looked up. Naruto's apartment and the one next to it were the only ones on occupied on the top floor and the only apartments with the lights on in the whole building. The noise was coming from Naruto's apartment. Not only that but Sasuke could hear things shifting around, and when he looked close enough he could see the blondes bed had been tipped on it's side and leaning against the window.

"He's being robed." Sasuke realized without any emotion whatsoever. He just shrugged at his statement and moved on. Yet after a couple of steps Sasuke stopped himself. _If I prevent that loser's home being robbed, then he'll probably stopped pestering me and getting me into pointless detention, and not only that, he'll keep his mouth shut about earlier today!_ Sasuke thought.

Staying with this decision, Sasuke flattened himself to the ground and arrived in leaps and bounds as quick as possible to Naruto's door. Because these will naturally be civilians or lower class genin, the best option would be to have the element of surprise, and come in quick and fast and knock them out before they even realize what happened. Before he rushed in, Sasuke briefly wondered where the hell Naruto was, or his little follower who always seemed to be looking out for him, but dismissed it. It did not concern him.

Sasuke checked if the door was locked it wasn't. He burst through.

And was hit in the face by a frying pan that came out of nowhere.

"Told you it would work." drawled a voice.

* * *

I wasn't really shocked when my work of art booby-trap prevented someone from coming. Well at least not until I found out that intruder was Sasuke.

"Are you sure?" Naruto asked me.

"Positive. No other guy puts that much product in his hair." I replied after holding up Sasuke's hair to look at his face. The Uchiha had been knocked completely out, even ninja sense weren't enough to save him from my deadly frying pan contraption.

I wonder what possessed him to even _think_ about coming in here. Looking back on when they were at the store earlier on, the only conclusions Ren could come up with would be either Revenge, or to try and get Naruto's mouth shut. Three weeks ago I would have said the latter. Now after getting know him, I'm not so sure any more, especially after witnessing declaring vengeance on a pea . He never got his revenge- Naruto ate the pea.

As I thought back to the shop I replayed the rest of the day in my head, I do that sometimes, I can't seem to stop myself because I enjoy being able to do it to every minuscule detail, like I'm watching a film in my mind that I've already lived.

It took us five hours to catch that bloody cat.

Tora. If the devil had a name, well I've got a pretty good guess as to what it is...

Anyway, when we did finally catch it -after taking off my swirl symbol necklace, I practically ordered it into submission. You know, I think Killer B and Yugito were right about what they told me before I left Kumo, well that just means I'll be extra careful to wear my necklace- We gave it back to that overweight walrus of a woman and claimed our reward, which I gave to Naruto considering he needed it more than I did.

Afterwards when we got back, Naruto's apartment had been robbed again, even all his ramen pots had gone, including his secret stash. So we started putting furniture back to where they were making a large racket, when I said to him:

"Naruto do you have a frying pan by any chance.?" I asked looking up at him on the other side of lifting the table.

"No, they took that too."

"I'm just going to nip back to mine, hang on-" I had zoomed back to my place, grabbed my last remaining frying that did not have a Naruto face print on it and returned to the exact same spot. "You've got ninja wire haven't you, I've run out-"

"It's under my bed-NO!" Naruto suddenly shouted at the top of his lungs at me. I took a step back. What the hell was that for? I didn't see a banner for a shouting contest. I glanced around quickly. Maybe I missed it.

"YOU ARE NOT GOING TO SET UP THAT STUPID FRYING PAN TRAP!" Naruto carried on yelling.

"It's not stupid." I mumbled to myself, almost like a five year old getting told off by his mum and arguing, but in a way she can't hear him.

"It was only luck that it got me, how the hell is it supposed to stop an intruder it's just a frying pan, IT WON'T WORK!"

"Of course it will," I scoffed. "You have no idea." I dived for the bed. "Dammit!" The wire was out of my reach, so I hefted the bed up on it's side and propped it against the window.

"I said no, ya know!" Naruto shouted, quieter this time. "It's just going to get in the way, and it's a waste of my ninja wire, you have no idea how much that costs!"

It took me a minute to set it up, with Naruto trying to stop me. "I'm not having you getting hurt or robbed again!" I growled at him through gritted teeth. That mad him take a step back.

"Trust me, It will work. I bet you fifty yen" I reassured him as we both stood back to marvel my work.

"Deal. There's no way you can pinpoint where the head of the person is going to be, believe it, they had different heights," Naruto continued to argue and shook my hand as an agreement of the deal, however I grinned when he mentioned that part. I already knew how to pinpoint the exact location of anyone's face. This is my own technique after all and I've had years to perfect it."I doubt even a genin would get hit by-

_CLANG!_

"I'll never be right." Naruto groaned after he handed over the money. I pocketed it, and here we are.

"What should we do with him?" Naruto asked.

"I don't think he'd mind if we rolled him off the balcony." I offered. The blonde laughed.

"Well I don't know about that, but I what I am going to do is give graffiti his face." Naruto declared with an evil grin taking over his mouth, raising a sharpie pen with one hand as he gave Sasuke a makeover.

Feeling bored I kicked an empty Ramen pot. Something sparked in my brain. "Naruto, you must surely be hungry? I didn't see you eat anything all day."

"I'm fine mum," The blonde snickered. "I'm not hungry at all." I knew he was lying.

So when his stomach rumbled I said to him;

"Right, that's it! I'm making dinner. "

"Renataaaa." Naruto whined. "You don't have to baby me."

"Don't call me that, and I'm not babying you, it's just your skills in cooking haven't even surpassed that of a toddlers." I pointed out to him. Trust me, I took him up on his offer to make me lunch once. I won't go into detail but lets just say I had a lot of bathroom trips that day, and once I didn't quite make it.

"How do I know you're not going to give me food poisoning?" He had asked with a raised eyebrow and looking at me suspiciously. Abandoning Sasuke he sat down at the table.

"If I wanted to kill you kiddo, I would have done it already, now whist! I've got a cookbook back in my room, and I specifically remember there being a recipe for miso ramen." I had said.

He didn't say another word after that.

"First, lets get Sasuke onto the bed, I know he's a prick, but he's our prick." Taking Sasuke's top half because I didn't trust Naruto to 'accidentally' let it drop once we picked him up, we hefted him on the bed which had been placed back normally. Rumbling erupted from Naruto's stomach once more. My tummy barely ever rumbles, and I hardly ever feel hungry, so I often forget to feed myself, and go without food for two days sometimes. This was due to the six years I had been away. Naruto's stomach complaints jog's my memory that we need food to survive. So I fetched my cookbook and the correct ingredients from my place and brought them over. It was a simpler dish than it looked. Naruto kept peering over my shoulder to make sure I got it right which was rather annoying. I told him to piss off at one point.

"You're doing it wrong." He would suddenly say to me, and I'd wave the wooden spoon at him as a warning.

Kumo doesn't have ramen so I've never tried it before. Naruto was utterly shocked and to show how much he pitied me for this he told me and I quote . "Your life must have been hell, Renata."

I finished up and used the ladle to pour it into three bowls, Sasuke might be waking up soon and the boy looked like he needed something. His colouring was a bit a pale.

"It was, but honestly Naruto, food has nothing to do with it, Ramen in my mind is just something to keep me going." I placed the bowls on the table where Naruto quickly snatched his up and wrapped his arms around it.

"Don't listen to her! She didn't mean it , baby. Your still wonderful in my eyes, Ren's just blind to when it comes to beauty." The orangutan scowled at me. "I'll savor every last drop of you." He turned his attention back to the bowl, but then began eyeing it suspiciously as he remembered who had created.

"Oh well it's Ramen! Not even a nin-dog could make it taste bad." And I don't know how, but for some reason I don't want to find out how he did it, but Naruto swallowed the whole thing in one fell swoop. All he did was tip the bowl up to his face and slurped the whole thing in under ten seconds. I just sat there staring, chopsticks in hand, hanging in midair above my bowl, possibly with my mouth open. I closed my mouth and proceeded to perform my own technique, one passed down from Kakashi. The art of eating with a mask. Or rather without anyone seeing whats under your mask. I've almost mastered it and it will be good practice for me when I go on missions outside of Konoha, there my mask will always be just above my nose, whereas here in the village, I can change it to my preference and it wouldn't matter because the danger doesn't lie in Konoha.

"That was almost as good as Teuchi's down at Ichiraku Ramen!" He had the audacity to not ask for more though, since he knew from past experiences that I would only give him what he needed, or help him enough to stand on his own two feet. No more, no less. For now. If a life threatening situation suddenly appeared and push comes to shove, then I'll be by his side in an instant.

Suddenly both our chairs were knocked out from underneath ourselves and we fell to the ground. More like a fell to the ground and Naruto managed to stay on his feet, due to previously spotting that I had some left over Ramen and had already started reaching over to grab it. He may have the audacity not to demand, but he sure as hell didn't for asking.

Sasuke was awake, was what crossed my mind. A quick flicker of the light, and suddenly he was sat adjacent to me in the third chair arms crossed, with an annoyed expression planted on his face. That and graffiti.

"Explanation. Now." Was all he said.

"I don't think you deserve it!" Naruto harrumphed. "Spoiling a good meal like that." He stuck his tongue out at the other boy who frowned in return, and turned to yours truly.

"Don't look at me, my memory is piss poor." Lying was the best answer. It's not a good idea to give certain people an idea of your own unique skills. And people knowing I can remember everything, is not what I want them to know. The only people who I would trust enough, scratch that - I prefer not to trust people completely, maybe for certain aspects, like I trust my brot-Kakashi to keep specific secrets- are Kakashi, Lord Hokage, my father and mother, and maybe in time, Naruto. Who knows, the idiot could blurt it out if I wasn't careful how I went about things.

And truthfully, I didn't want to talk anymore. All I want to do now is to sit in silence with Naruto, who will possibly blabber about nothing remotely interesting. Just as long as I was with him, then that was alright. I sighed though.

"Here." I said after getting an extra bowl, full of ramen for Sasuke. I placed it on the table in front of him. Silence. I swear I heard crickets.

"Just eat it. You're obviously hungry." I said. When Sasuke refused I saw a glint in Naruto's eyes.

"No. I don't think he can handle ramen."

"Whatever, I'm leaving." The Uchiha got up lazily and was at the door by the time Naruto spoke again, making chicken noises.

"Chicken! Fine, go then!This proves I'm stronger than you and always will be, if you can't even eat a small bowl of ramen. Is your stomach that weak? No wonder Ren beat you!" Naruto yelled after him. Sasuke stopped abruptly.

Oh I see what Naruto was getting at. Clever kid. Not even Sasuke was immune to reverse psychology. Naruto really was caring, even to someone who was as arrogant as Sasuke. To be fair I wouldn't be bale to put up with him for long. The moment he refused, I wasn't really bothered anymore. I didn't really care about him at all. Now if it were Naruto...those noodles would be so far down his throat that he would't have time to say no.

"I'm obviously stronger, but if I eat more Ramen than you, promise to leave me alone at the academy and never come near me or talk me again, you too, traitor." He replied, taking back his seat. I shrugged. Whatever Naruto answered I would go along with.

"Deal!"Naruto struck out his hand that Sasuke reluctantly took. The kid clapped his hands together. "Renata! Make us some more ramen."

There was no getting out of this. I tied on an apron and Naruto point out to me tens of packets of noddles. "I thought you said the burglars go them all?"

"Only the cup ramen, You know I can't cook."

I began to make a lot more Ramen.

"What a drag." I quoted the famous Nara.

* * *

Fortunately for us, or more suitable, unfortunately for Sasuke, Naruto won the Ramen eating 'contest'. I really didn't see how Sasuke didn't see it coming. But then again, sasuke never had dinner with Naruto at Ichiraku Ramen.

The score sat at 4:9 bowls to Naruto, not including the one he ate beforehand. Surely the kid should be tonne heavier than he is. Anyway, Naruto stayed with me for the fourth time since I've been here, the other two times had been that someone had released some toxic gas into his apartment, which had to be cleared out overnight. How he isn't dead is beyond me. I have to be more careful when it comes to situations like this. I keep telling him to stop with the pranks considering the results are hazardous to himself. But this was a bit too far for a few whimsy pranks, wasn't it?

The other time I had a nightmare. Naruto told me he could hear me screaming through the vent/window thing above our beds, louder than all the other times and even more distressed. I'd rather not go into that dream. He faced getting his in the face with a frying pan again just to comfort me. Apparently I'd stopped screaming the moment he wrapped his arms around me protectively and fell asleep. I displayed my gratitude in the morning when I hit him with another frying pan. Yes, I keep one down the side of my bed, is that so hard to believe?

I was surprised that I hadn't woken up, being a light sleeper and all. The dream was quite deep. After we had established that Naruto was himself and not some stranger I shook my head in annoyance and pointed at the door, after which he greatly emphasized how he did me a favour, then left when I glared.

So two hours after waking up, Naruto and I joined up once more and walked straight to the academy. A couple of weeks ago, we decided to collect the mission scroll after school hours, due to Naruto's lateness and meeting the Hokage would further ensue it.

The day at the academy wore on. Basically we onto nin jutsu now. Unfortunately for me, I don't even have a clue how to use chakra. But Iruka must have known this because unlike the others, eh didn't call me up to test me on my skills. I wasn't surprised to find Sasuke at the top of the class again, but I was to see Naruto at the bottom. Somethings not right here. Either he has little to none chakra, or large amounts and poor control. I'm betting on the latter. From what I know of the Uzumaki's, is that they had an even bigger chakra storage than us Okami's.

At the end of the day, I hopped down from the desk and signaled for Naruto to follow, for which he happily complied. He seemed a lot happier these days. I wonder why.

"And where do you think you're going, Ren,Naruto?"

We were greeted by both Iruka and Sasuke, standing in front of us and preventing us leaving. Sasuke had his hands in his pockets acting like he didn't want to be here. Which he probably didn't and Iruka was smiling that smile that said "I'm going to suggest something and you are going to do it, and you are going to LIKE IT!" smile.

"Ren, Sasuke. I have decided your punishment." I could hear Naruto quietly drum rolling beside me. "Stop that." I hissed at him.

"Your are to practice with Sasuke on your nin justu until you can perform it as well as possible after school everyday."

"BUT IRUKA-SENSEI!" Naruto leaped up and down. "What about our-you-know...thing?"

Sasuke's head snapped up. He was listening intently now. it seems Iruka already debriefed him on his punishment earlier.

"You can do without." Iruka replied simply, while I clenched my fists.

"But, she can practice with me can't she?" Naruto whined, desperate. I hoped silently too that Iruka would change his mind.

"No sorry, Naruto. You are the dead-last at the moment and you would be of no use to Ren. sasuke however has the best results, this will also bring up your grade in teamwork, Sasuke." Iruka told him to which he "hned".

"Don't bother, It's not going to change anything." I told the hyperactive blonde.

"Unfortunately." sasuke added on.

So while Naruto gave Sasuke a lecture on not treating me like an idiot a lot of jealous girls looked in my direction. If I could swap places with them, I would in a heartbeat. But that's not the case. And just after Iruka sent us of to train in a training filed, I overheard Sakura and a few other girls go up to Iruka sensei.

"Um sir, I don't think my ninjutsu is good at all. In fact it's been terrible lately. Perhaps Sasuke can teach me too?" The pink haired girl asked.

"Sorry Sakura, Sasuke already has a 'student', why not let Naruto teach you? I'm sure he could give you fine points." He replied catching on.

"Oh...no! It's all better now! Must have been that dodgy sandwich I had this morning." I've never seen anyone make up an excuse that quickly, was Naruto really that bad? I thought about it as I followed Sasuke into the forest.

* * *

**I promise you the next chapter they will become genin, this has gone on longer than I thought. I just needed to get some information out of the way before they turned genin to explain some things, like Ren's protectiveness over Naruto, and their friendship, otherwise people would be like"how did they become close so quickly?!"**

**Anyway, question answering time! Now some I have already replied in email, but I'll put them up anyway in case people want to know the same thing, here we go:**

**DarkFlareX  
**

**_Q. So are Naruto and Ren family by blood? _**  
**_Btw, that Sasuke note thing was hilarious_**

**_A. _Not exactly, it's more like years back some of the heads of the clan would marry the oldest girl of the head of the other clan, they are very, very,very,very distantly related. In incest terms though, they are not related, because it's too distant.**

******roxas1337  
**

**_Q. I have to say I quite like this but some things seem like stupid to me. For example, Naruto does hiraishin at 6 years old, a S-rank jutsu, of his hero (and unknowingly his father of course). He would NEVER forget he did the jutsu and the Hokage should know this and think that he would try it again so he should've sent someone to possibly teach Naruto so he wouldn't be a dumbass and try it again... I personally agree with the guest who said the Sandaime allowed this to happen so Naruto could be manipulated. This shows since the excuse for Naruto not knowing his parents "Your father had a lot of enemies" but oh wait; Ren has the name, shouldn't she be in danger of being attacked too? There is no reason for him not to know now except Hiruzen doesn't want him too. And I know Naruto is a dumbass but I think his stupidity has gone a bit far :p you'd also think even._**

**A. I understand completely, and there were a lot of things that I never cleared up. For instance Naruto never forgot about what happened when he was six, there will be more about it in the next chapter and you'll see, I can see why you thought that considering he never mentions it(He doesn't want the others to think he was a loony or lying so he kept quiet about it)(he actually still pesters the hokage with questions and searches for 'the baby') To be fair, I needed an excuse for him to go back in time and I thought that would be the best one, also Kakashi became a chunin at age six, plus It wasn't exactly naruto who managed to complete the jutsu but mainly the fox, Naruto used his chakra, and the fox wanted him to try and complete the jutsu, considering it would have the possibility of loosening the seal(which it did, but only a little) so unknowingly to naruto, it helped him. **

**Naruto was already told that if he tried it again then he would most likely die. And because Naruto still was unsure about how he did it, he does not want to take that chance, Sandaime saw that as reason enough. I have to admit, the sandaime did ** all to protect Naruto, and maybe he did do it to manipulate him, you guys can decided that, I 've only got the reason that the third thought Naruto was smart enough not to try it again. Ren was targeted a few times by other villages when she was very young, however it was very widely known that the Minato had adopted a baby of civilian heritage, and they heard before they actually went through with the assassination. **  
**Yes I have to admit, I have made him a bit stupid. But seriously, in the manga and anime, some things explained to him multiple times, and then doesn't get it, and other times he needs it explained to him in the terms of food. Don't worry though, in the upcoming chapters he'll be more cunning, plus he is a really good strategist during a fight, so he uses his head a lot in later chapters. Honestly, I just tried to match his intelligence in the manga, and I was pretty shocked at how stupid he is sometimes. I may have exaggerated his stupidity, and I'm sorry about that, sometimes it's quite hard to measure intelligence.**  
**but anyway, thank you so much for reviewing, and giving me feedback, so i can fix things :)**

**_Anonymouse  
_**

**_Q. If you can't even get your grammar right for your summary, how the hell do you expect people to read this story?_**

**_"I think we are all clear on one thing. Naruto's an idiot. However he's going to have to over come that in order to understand how he managed to save someones life. Someone who hardly anybody knew about, who was supposed to be dead."_**

**_Here, I'll fix it for you._**

**_"I think one thing is understood, Naruto Uzumaki is an idiot. However, he's going to have to overcome that obstacle in order to understand how he managed to save someones life. Someone whom was hardly known, someone who was supposed to be dead."_**

**A. Wow...um how do I go about this. One. I'm very grateful that you took the time and effort to help me with my summary, because honestly, I know it is piss poor, in English creative writing is my strong point, not all that...stuff(best word ever!). However, I don not appreciate people who are rude when they don't have any reason to be. One I don't expect people to read this story, I would like them too, but I didn't expect them to, that's why I was amazed that I got 23 reviews, which is far less than others, but to me I feel proud. Also I wrote this for my own benefit. I enjoy writing stories, always have, always will.**

**Two. With this summary that I have so far approx. 2080 have clicked on this story. Most don't even care about the summary, they just care about whats inside. (hey a beautiful metaphor!) I have read so many fanifcs, written beautifully with amazing plots that have had shit summaries. Not only that but 445 of those people have read the second chapter, meaning they did not click on ti by mistake, because they liked the first.**

**Now. I'm not going use that summary because I don't think that it's right of me to do that since I've just had a wee go at you and the used something that you made.**

**and last but not least:**

**Namikaze 9/3/13 . chapter 5**

_**Q. Ren remembers so many things and does not remember that Naruto is mix of Minato and Kushina. She does not remember what happened to Kushina child.**_

**A. Lovely, a very reasonable question. Well Namikaze, Ren was not with both Minato and Kushina during the Nine tails attack. Minato had actually left Kakashi to babysit her due to Kushina's contractions that had started. When the nine tails came about, Kakashi quickly took Ren first to the safe area underneath he hokage mountain, to be looked after by others,then went back. Ren remembers being inside the mountain during the nine tails attack. She also believed the baby died along with Kushina and Minato.**

**well thats it really, I hope that helps.**

**Okami out~**


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